I went to a baby group today. A popular one that is attended equally by men and women. Midway through I left with the kiddies to take them out into the cafe for a snack. We were alone in there and baby was squarking, so as my son ate his food I latched my daughter on. A few mums came in and I didn't bother covering up. Then a dad came in. I considered reaching for the cloth in front of me. Then I remembered my musings in a previous blog concerning feeding in front of men. Why cover up? I hadn't covered up for the women and you couldn't see anything anyway.
The man walked right by me and sat down at the next table. The slight tenseness I felt dissipated. If he didn't care then I didn't care. In fact I almost felt a solidarity from the fact he'd sat so near. Some may question me, but to me breastfeeding isn't a sexual thing, sex doesn't come into it. So, if I am not showing any flesh I wouldn't happily show in a bikini then why should I cover up. What am I covering anyway, a bit of shoulder and cleavage? Pointless.
So, here is the power of the blog. I am referring to its power to me, not to my readers. I don't think I would have remained uncovered like this before I started writing this blog. But, putting your thoughts in black and white helps you to understand what you really think about something. What I think is that breastfeeding should be completely normal and everyday. So why do I continue to cover up? Small steps of course. As my blog has shown there are still places I would be uncomfortable to openly breastfeed. But I like to think that my emancipation may have some tiny knock on effect. Even if it is just that I am seen by one person who then feels a tiny bit more comfortable feeding in public.
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