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Devyn Tracy

English 1201

Professor Goeller

April 13, 2019

Accepting Breastfeeding Mothers

Think of a time when you have been publicly embarrassed. Think of how it made you

feel. How your palms started to sweat, your face turned red, and you had no idea how to respond

to someone putting you down in front of a crowd of strangers, so you stumble and stutter through

your words. Remember what you were thinking, “How could someone say this to me, why did

they say it and who are they to think they have the right to tell me what I should be doing in my

life?” Now, imagine being a new mother who leaves the house for the first time. Your baby gets

hungry, so you discreetly start breastfeeding him. Out of nowhere, someone comes up and tells

you loudly to go do that somewhere else, go into the bathroom, no one wants to see that, and

maybe you should’ve done that before you left the house. Now you’re afraid to leave your house

because what if your baby gets hungry and you have to feed him again? You were embarrassed

so much the first time, you don’t want to go through that again. You just decide to not leave the

house with your newborn and seclude yourself. This is the life of a breastfeeding mother. So,

why does it continue to happen? Why are people not acceptable of something so natural that has

been happening since the beginning of time? Women are already going through enough when it

comes to being a new mother, society should be more accepting of women who make the choice

to breastfeed their babies and to do so in public.

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Before I became a mom, I didn’t know much about breastfeeding. I didn’t know the

benefits of it or even how to do it. It wasn’t something that I ever thought about doing. Once I

became pregnant and did the research on it, I realized there are so many benefits to breastfeeding

my baby. Yet, every day women are shamed for doing it in public. This is something that should

be the “norm”. Breastfeeding rates at birth are at 83%, but then at six months that number drops

to 57% and only 24% are exclusively breastfed at six months old (CDC 3). Exclusively breastfed

means the baby gets only breastmilk without supplementing with formula. Women shouldn’t be

shamed and publicly embarrassed for using their breasts for what they were intended. The

biggest issue is people are misinformed about breastfeeding and aren’t given enough information

about it.

The first reason society should be more supportive of breastfeeding is because of the

benefits for the mother. In an article written by the Cleveland Clinic, they speak of the benefits

breastfeeding has on the mother. First, it helps the mother physically. Breastfeeding helps new

moms lose weight after giving birth. Breastfeeding burns about 400 or more calories a day

(Cleveland Clinic 4). It also makes the uterus contract and go back down to normal size

(Cleveland Clinic 4). During pregnancy, the uterus stretches to the size of a watermelon. After

giving birth, contractions can still occur to help the uterus shrink back down to normal size.

Normal size would be about the size of an orange. Another physical benefit is the lower risk of

breast and ovarian cancer (Cleveland Clinic 6). These benefits are those that last for life and not

just during the time of breastfeeding.

One emotional benefit for the mother is breastfeeding helps with postpartum depression.

As talked about in the article by the Cleveland Clinic, postpartum depression is depression after a

mother gives birth; her body goes through so many chemical changes (4). After giving birth, the
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mother has a huge drop in hormones. During pregnancy the hormones go up higher than normal,

then as soon as the mother gives birth, all of those hormone levels drop rapidly. This affects the

mother tremendously. Signs of this is tons of crying, anxiety, irritability, and fatigue. Having the

skin-to-skin contact with the baby that comes with breastfeeding helps the mother with bonding

with her baby and also help fight postpartum depression without the use of medication

(Cleveland Clinic 5).

The next reason breastfeeding should be supported is because of the benefits it has for the

baby. There is nothing wrong with formula and it is a great supplement for women who cannot,

or choose not to breastfeed, but the benefits are huge with breastmilk. In the article by Cleveland

Clinic, they also talk of the benefits for the baby. One of the benefits is it reduces the risk of

SIDS (1). SIDS is sudden infant death syndrome. No one knows what causes SIDS. The babies

usually die in their sleep and are less than a year old. They are usually completely healthy babies

and SIDS has no signs before it happens. There is a lower rate to those babies that are breastfed.

Another benefit that breastfeeding gives babies is breast milk. The first couple of days,

women produce colostrum. This is before the mother’s milk comes in. There are tons of

antibodies in colostrum that give the baby their first immunization (Lucia 27). Also, it is very

high in protein, so the baby doesn’t need much the first couple of days until the milk comes in.

Once the milk comes in, it continues to be full of so many health benefits for the baby and it will

change depending on what the baby needs. If the baby is sick, the mother’s body knows it

because saliva is transferred into the mammary glands and tell if there is bacteria or viruses. The

breastmilk will change color and have more antibodies to help the baby fight off what is making

them sick (Lucia 27). The mother’s breastmilk is custom-made for their baby. This helps babies
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have fewer illnesses. It is also proven that breastfed babies have lower rates for ear infections,

allergies, and asthma. Breastfeeding kind of gives the baby a strong, healthy immune system.

The next benefit of breastfeeding is the amount of money it will save a family. When it

comes to formula, it isn’t cheap. An article written by Trent Hamm, he sat down and calculated

the numbers for the cost of formula for the whole first year of a baby’s life. The articles states

that, “According to Kelly Bonyata, a certified breastfeeding specialist, an average baby, over

their first year of life, eats an average of 25 ounces of milk per day” (4). This amount will change

with each baby and the age, but for doing this math, lets stick to that amount. The math is pretty

simple. With 25 ounces a day time 365 days in a year, that comes out to 9,125 ounces of formula

in a year. The average cost of formula is about $0.19 times 9,125 ounces, that means that it’ll

cost $1,733.75 for formula in the first year of life. This is also just an average. This amount could

go up or down depending on the type of formula, if the baby has a sensitivity, then they may

need to be on a specific formula. Breastmilk is free though. There can be optional costs like

getting a breast pump if the mother works and needs to be able to pump, but that will still only

cost around $200 and some insurances cover the cost of them. But even just buying that out-of-

pocket would save at least $1,500. For families who can’t afford $1,700 of formula a year,

breastfeeding is free.

Breastfeeding doesn’t come without its challenges though. The challenges need to be

talked about so people understand what these women go through to breastfeed their babies. It

isn’t easy and can be very challenging. The Office on Women’s Health talks of the challenges

that come with breastfeeding. The first one is low supply or over supply (4-8). Both are

challenges because a low supply means having to either get your body to make more, which is

easier said than done by power pumping, or supplementing with formula because the baby isn’t
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getting enough to eat. An oversupply means you make too much milk and you end up very

uncomfortable. With an oversupply, you have to pump the milk out or that can cause a clogged

duct, which just means the milk duct isn’t drained completely so milk is left over. This can cause

tenderness and there will be a lump (OWH 17).

Another issue with breastfeeding is mastitis. Now this one is an infection. It hits out of

nowhere, one minute everything is okay and the next you feel like you have the flu. It can cause

a fever, vomiting, nausea, and breasts to feel very hot to the touch (OWH 18-21). The only way

this goes away is by going to the doctors to get antibiotics that will hopefully help after a day or

so. This doesn’t even go into the issues of sore nipples when you first start breastfeeding because

it’s something your body isn’t used to. Or that babies get teeth around 4 to 6 months, so they

start biting when they are eating. Women go through so much when it comes to breastfeeding

that no one knows about unless they have experienced it themselves or watched someone close

to them go through it.

One mother from the article on Motherly talks about how she was shamed for

breastfeeding her twins. She was dropping her oldest child off at daycare and did her usual

routine of breastfeeding her twins once getting to the daycare. This mother, Jennifer Mancuso,

has always been open to breastfeeding her kids and never been ashamed. One day when she was

breastfeeding her twins, she was asked to stop because she was in an open area and the other

parents could see her. She was then asked to go to a back room that was for the employees

(Marcoux 5). She was embarrassed by the whole situation. A daycare that she had been going to

for years and knows that she breastfeeds told her to go elsewhere to do so. The mother is from

Ohio, so she decided to give the director of the daycare the Ohio law, which states, “a mother is

entitled to breastfeed her baby in any location of a place of public accommodation wherein the
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mother otherwise is permitted” (Marcoux 9). The director ended up apologizing to Mancuso for

what happened, but that doesn’t change what happened the day of the incident. She was

embarrassed and shocked over what happened. She states in the article, that she is on Instagram

and openly talks on there how she is pro-breastfeeding (Marcoux 6). But just because she is

confident in what she does, doesn’t change how upset she was over the situation. This happens to

women everywhere, every day. They are doing what they believe is best for their baby, then

publicly embarrassed by others for doing so.

The counterargument for breastfeeding is that it should be done at home, in the bathroom,

or to leave the store. The article on CNN by Kelly Wallace has a quote by one person who says,

“It’s not about what’s ‘legal,’ it’s about what’s ‘right.’ And the effects our choices have on the

people around us. A simple burp rag over the child and the problem goes away” (5). The

problem with this is that this person has probably never breastfed a baby. Because if they have

done so, then they would realize that yes, it may be easy to do this when the baby is younger,

maybe around newborn to three months old, but after that the baby gets curious. Babies want to

look around, especially in public, a place that is new to them. They are constantly taking in new

information, new places, new smells, new feelings. They don’t want something covering their

head. Imagine it being summer time and being outside, the baby is already a little warm and then

a thin blanket is put over their head, they will get overheated and dehydrated. Also, when they

say our choices effect those around us, breastfeeding is only frowned upon by those who are

misinformed or don’t know anything about it. If a child raised in an environment where it is

shamed, then that child will think its bad. But if a child raised in an environment where it is

explained and accepted, then that child will see the amazing thing that mom is doing for her

baby.
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Women are often told to go breastfeed in the bathroom. Go feed your baby in the public

restroom, where everyone else pees and poops. In the article by Abi Schreier, an expert is

consulted about the topic of mothers having to feed their babies in the bathroom. Dr. Kameelah

Phillips, an OB-GYN, says that even though the baby won’t come into contact with bacteria or

viruses because their mouth only touches the breast, it still doesn’t change the fact that it’s

disgusting (Schreier 2-3). Imagine eating in a public restroom while others use the restroom in

the stall next to you. Dr. Phillips states that women and their babies deserve to have the same

rights and respect as everyone else who is eating and shouldn’t be shamed into having to

breastfeed their baby in the restroom (3).

Fig. 2 shows what it is like for women to breastfeed their babies in a public restroom.

(Whitelocks)

In the article by Kelly Wallace, she asks the question as to why, as a society, are we so

squeamish about breastfeeding in public? One big problem talked about is how society sees

breasts as something that is sexual. Everywhere we look in social media and on television,

women are showing their breasts. They are even showing more than what is seen when a woman

is breastfeeding her baby. In an article by Lydia Price, she recaps a video done by Joey Salads, a
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Youtuber, who does a video to see how people react to a woman wearing a low-cut shirt with a

massive amount of cleavage compared to a woman breastfeeding her baby, yet her sweater

covers what is going on. What ends up happening is very sad. The woman with the cleavage

doesn’t have anyone say anything to her, some people look, and one stops to flirt, yet no one

asks her to cover up. Then the woman breastfeeding sits on the same bench, next to the other

woman, and people make comments at her. One person even tells her, “it’s disgusting” (Price 5).

Joey Salads even tells one person, “Her boobs are out too, if you have a problem with that boob

being out you should have a problem with that boob being out too” (Price 9). Yet all the person

says is, “That’s just how her shirt is, that’s fine, it’s not gross” (Price 10). Another person even

went so far as saying women shouldn’t be doing that because their breasts are for sexual reasons

and they shouldn’t “reveal” themselves if it isn’t appealing to men (Price 11). This experiment

that Joey Salads did just shows exactly what our society thinks of breastfeeding and how

misinformed so many people are when it comes to the topic. Society believes that breasts are for

sexual purposes only when they are actually for breastfeeding. That is their purpose. Saying a

woman’s low-cut top is fine but a woman breastfeeding her baby isn’t, there is something wrong

with that. Both should be equally accepted.

In an article by Sonja Haller, which was published less than a year ago, says how it is

finally legal for women to publicly breastfeed in public in all 50 states (2). It took until 2018 to

finally make this happen, yet not everyone was happy about it. In Haller’s article, she quotes one

Republican Representative, who says, “This seems to say you don’t have cover up at all. I’m not

comfortable with that, I’m just not. It’s really in your face” (Haller 5). What isn’t understood is a

woman isn’t doing this in spite of everyone, they aren’t doing this for attention or for people to

stare and make rude comments at them. These mothers are doing this because they did the
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research on breastfeeding and took time to see the benefits that breastfeeding has on both

themselves and the baby. These new mothers also realize that they will have to leave the house at

some point and their baby will get hungry during that time, they shouldn’t be shamed for feeding

their crying, hungry baby. They should be able to eat in peace, just like everyone else that is

eating.

Women are constantly told what they are doing wrong when it comes to caring for their

newborn baby. It seems like everywhere they look, someone is unhappy with the choices she has

made for her baby. One person says to breastfeed, while another says bottle feed or formula feed

is the way to go. Someone else is saying cloth diapers and another says disposable diapers. One

person says add rice to bottle at 4 months, while another says it’s not needed. It never ends when

it comes to unwanted advice for new mothers. The choices they make need to be respected, even

if it isn’t the choice others would make.

In conclusion, society should be more understanding of women breastfeeding in public.

What I have come to see in all my research is how misinformed society is when it comes to this

subject. They don’t know the benefits that breastfeeding has on both the mother and the baby.

They don’t know how difficult it can be in the first place and that these women are working so

hard to do what is natural. This is what breasts were made to do. They don’t know that even

though it is hard, that it saves women money in the long run because formula is not cheap at all.

Even though breastfeeding is natural, it doesn’t come without it challenges, and society needs to

be accepting of the choice the mother makes for her baby. As a society, we should all be

accepting and understanding of those who do things that we don’t do. This includes

breastfeeding. Just because it seems out-of-the-norm for one person doesn’t mean they can

publicly shame someone for making that choice for their baby. These women should be given
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praise and encouragement for the decision to breastfeed their baby. Breastfeeding isn’t an easy

choice; it takes a lot out of a person and means giving of yourself. Let’s support those women

instead of embarrassing them and shaming them.

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Works Cited

Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). “Breastfeeding.” U.S. Department of Health

and Human Services, 11 December 2017,

https://www.cdc.gov/breastfeeding/data/index.htm. Accessed 28 February 2019.

Cleveland Clinic. “The Benefits of Breastfeeding for Baby and the Mom”. Cleveland Clinic. 01

January 2018, https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/15274-the-benefits-of-

breastfeeding-for-baby--for-mom. Accessed 15 March 2019.

Haller, Sonja. “Finally! In 2018 it’s legal to Breastfeed in Public in all 50 states”. USA Today, 25

July 2018, https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/allthemoms/2018/07/25/public-

breastfeeding-now-legal-all-50-states/835372002/. Accessed 15 March 2019.

Hamm, Trent. “How Much Money does Breastfeeding really save?” The Simple Dollar, 10

December 2013, https://www.thesimpledollar.com/how-much-money-does-

breastfeeding-really-save/. Accessed 19 March 2019.

Lucia, Carole Anderson and Hartshorn, Jessica. “The Benefits of Breastfeeding.” Parents.

https://www.parents.com/baby/breastfeeding/basics/the-benefits-of-breastfeeding/.

Accessed 16 March 2019.

Marcoux, Heather. “This Mom’s Viral Story is a Great Reminder that Moms can Legally

Breastfeed Anywhere.” Motherly. 25 January 2019.

https://www.mother.ly/news/breastfeeding-in-public-is-legally-protected. Accessed 16

March 2019.

Office on Women’s Health (OWH). “Common Breastfeeding Challenges.” Office on Women’s

Health. 28 August 2018. https://www.womenshealth.gov/breastfeeding/breastfeeding-

challenges/common-breastfeeding-challenges. Accessed 22 March 2019.

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Price, Lydia. “Sexy Cleavage vs. Breastfeeding in Public Experiment Highlights Disturbing

Double Standards.” People. 19 January 2016. https://people.com/bodies/breastfeeding-in-

public-sexy-cleavage-social-experiment/. Accessed 20 March 2019.

Schreier, Abi Berwager. “What are the Dangers of Breastfeeding in a Bathroom? Expert Weighs

in.” Romper. 23 May 2018. https://www.romper.com/p/what-are-the-dangers-of-

breastfeeding-in-a-bathroom-expert-weighs-in-8593752. Accessed 2 April 2019.

Wallace, Kelly. “Why are we still so squeamish about breast-feeding?” CNN. 4 August 2016,

https://www.cnn.com/2016/08/04/health/breastfeeding-in-public-attitudes-

parents/index.html. Accessed 1 March 2019.

Whitelocks, Sadie. “Would you Eat in the Toilet? Powerful New Ad Series shows Nursing

Mothers Confined to Bathroom Stalls in Bid to Break Taboo of Public Breastfeeding.”

Daily Mail. 14 May 2014. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2628142/Would-

eat-toilet-Powerful-new-ad-series-shows-nursing-mothers-confined-bathroom-stalls-bid-

break-taboo-public-breastfeeding.html. Accessed 30 March 2019.