In the Public Eye

Barbara L. Behrmann, Ph.D.

(c)2005

Kelly Powers, half way through law school at the University of Baltimore, was expelled in August for nursing her eight-week old daughter in class.  On a summer day in July, Dorian Ryan, discreetly nursing under a towel and between two beach umbrellas at Colorado’s Carter Lake, was fined for “exposing her genitals in a public area.”  Barbara Walters made a disparaging remark about a woman nursing in an airplane and 150 nursing mamas showed up to protest in front of the ABC studios.

Why the brouhaha about something as seemingly innocuous as breastfeeding? The thing is, breastfeeding is not innocuous.  And it is more than a simple feeding choice.

First of all, breast milk and formula are worlds apart.  Thousands of studies document the nutritional, immunological and developmental risks of formula and benefits of breastfeeding.  Formula-fed babies, for example, have higher rates of respiratory and ear infections, gastro-intestinal problems, asthma and allergies; they lack protection against SIDS, certain chronic diseases, and immunities to fight viruses, bacteria, and intestinal parasites.  In fact, formula-fed babies are more than 25 percent likely to die in the first year of life than are breastfed babies.  And the list goes on.  Surely, it’s worth an occasional glimpse of skin so that mothers can protect their children?

Secondly, breastfeeding is a relationship.  The myth of independence runs deep in the cultural veins of America, but nursing is based on the ability of a mother and baby to be together.  “The idea that there are women walking around in the world whose bodies are the sole sustenance for other living beings has not inspired new working, travel, urban planning, or business arrangements…” asserts Sandra Steingraber in her book Having Faith:  An Ecologist’s Journey to Motherhood.”

Expressed milk is not the answer.  Not only is a pump less effective than a baby at removing milk from the breast, but lactation works on the principle of supply and demand.  Thus pumping, instead of nursing, can diminish a woman’s milk supply. Moreover, nurslings suckle for reasons beyond the milk.  It calms them, comforts them, and meets their emotional needs.

In short, breastfeeding is not a simple lifestyle choice.  It is a public health issue costing an estimated 3.6 billion health care dollars for babies denied breastmilk.  Women should be applauded for their efforts to meet their children’s needs, wherever they may be, not harassed and ridiculed, or, as the above cases reveal, expelled and fined.

As it turns out, Ms. Powers successfully fought her case and Ms. Ryan’s fine was revoked.  But these women had far better things to do with their time than have to fight the same old battle.

Regrettably, a better understanding of breastfeeding has not sufficiently shifted public consciousness away from the assumption that breasts are just fine when used to “turn-on” a man, but not acceptable when used to latch on a baby.  Paris Hilton can expose most of her breasts on the cover of Vanity Fair, yet a nursing baby on the cover of Mothering Magazine causes an outcry resulting in some stores selling it in brown paper packaging.  

The situations in which Ms. Powers and Ms. Ryan found themselves, reveal that we do not yet live in a society in which what makes women different from men is imbued with the same cultural value as what makes them similar.  (Check out Norway, though, where the production of breast milk is calculated and included in the gross domestic product!) 

Until we become more accepting of nursing mothers, we compromise the health and well-being of our children.  We promote the message that breastfeeding is important, but unattainable.  We force women to chose between their work and their children’s health, and we remove them from the public domain, expecting them to feed their children in public park bathrooms.  

Being able to nurse an infant in the workplace or at the beach without harassment won’t solve all the breastfeeding challenges women face.  But they would certainly help move us forward in the right direction.

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Barbara L. Behrmann, Ph.D. is a writer, researcher, and author of The Breastfeeding Café: Mothers Share the Joys, Secrets & Challenges of Nursing, University of Michigan Press, 2005. She is a frequent speaker around the country and is available for talks, readings, and conducting birthing and breastfeeding writing circles. The mother of two formerly breastfed children, Barbara lives in upstate New York.