Parenting magazine NSFW?

Man speaking here. My wife went out of her way to not breastfeed in public, but sometimes you just can't avoid it.

Taking milk on the go isn't always very easy. The milk spoils fast, pumping is an awkward experience which doesn't lead to a large amount of milk production, etc.

 

Okay, tickle me a convert (seriously, if it's a big deal to you, then I can tolerate a certain level of uneasiness). Babies, tit-suck away. I won't complain. I'd appreciate mom not splashing milk on my plate, but I won't complain again.

 

I have no problem with the picture or breast-feeding. The only problem I have is I found the magazine in between my 12-year-olds mattress.

 

Outrage over breast-feeding?

This country needs an enema.

 

I'll take breast feeding over that Hasselhoff sidesaddle. :-X

 

I'll speak up as one of a pair of parents who have bottle-fed all four of their children "corporate goop."

Personally, I don't care how anybody feeds their children. That's their own business. If they want to whip out the breast in public because the kid is hungry, then whip away. After all, why do we get squeamish when the breast is used for its intended purpose? (Wait, you mean they're not there to get guys off?????)

If parents want to bottle-feed, then that's great, too. Each parent has to make an individual decision based on comfort, cost, personal beliefs, whatever. There are far worse ways a parent can screw up a kid than falling on the "wrong" side of the breast v. bottle debate.

The problem is, so many parents are in an endless, heated battle with other parents about how their way is the only way, on EVERY issue. My wife and I got a taste of this when she was pregnant with my oldest son, in 1997. We found a parenting/pregnancy advice site called Storksite (long absorbed into iVillage) that had endless screaming fests between parents over everything from breat v. battle to attachment v. detachment parenting. (Attachment parenting is when you never put your kid down, ever. The kids sleeps with you, hangs with you, all with the idea of forming a tighter bond. Detachment would be what most parents practice -- "go play outside, goddammit.")

I would suggest any and all read Marc Fisher's excellent piece in last Sunday's Washington Post magazine about "toxic parents" to get a good idea of how vicious the relationships between parents get these days.

Really, I personally try to stay out of these battles. My kids have friends whose parents I wouldn't see eye-to-eye with on child-rearing strategies, but the last thing I would do is critique these parents to their face. I don't know everything that goes on in their house. Well, except for the friend of my daughter's whose dad was busted for trading in young girl kiddie porn. But that's a bit of an extreme situation, obviously.

Yeah, I just mind my own business. Although I would add that any parent who doesn't get their kid vaccinated is a first-class fucktard. Whoops, did I say that?

 

Do you have to be so damn judgmental? ;D

 

Damien -- apologies for the corporate goop line. Longheld bias on my part, owing entirely to the scandal stemming from Nestle hooking African kids on formula by giving away free samples, waiting for the mothers' milk to dry up, and then jacking up the price.

More a comment on the corporate side of things than the parenting side of things, but I can see how it was insensitive.

Apologies again. Four kids? You know a hell of a lot more about parenting than I do. And I'm sure you're an awesome dad.

 

Can we get some more fucking tit pictures on this thread already?

 

Glad to hear that, but if you said that with me in mind, I ain't the one. Going back to my story on the first page of this thread, I never said a word to the woman. I simply kept my back turned to the woman and tried to do my job. Except she kept walking around, entering the corners of my eyes, to where I finally decided to just up and leave. Got some more quotes. She made me uncomfortable to where I just left.

Good, passionsate argument by Jones, Rosie and others, but how I feel is how I feel. There's always room to agree to disagree.

 

If you insist ...

 

We've pretty much covered the subject, but I wanted to emphasize the point about a screaming child. When our kids were littleI was massively paranoide that their noise would ruin someone else's evening. Now, we didn't breast feed, but even so, if that's what it takes for the kid in the next booth at the restaurant to pipe down, I have no problem with it. And it's patently unfair to a parent to say, "OK, you've got kids, so stay the fuck at home."

Aside from being a beautiful, natural act, it warms my heart in a financial (and yes, self-centered) way. I can't help but think that that baby is one I won't be supporting on welfare, because it has parents who care for it, parents who make intelligent, informed choices, and who will raise the child responsibly. Not saying bottle feeders aren't any of those things, but iit strikes me as likely that the lower the intelligence level, the less likely a parent is to breast-feed.