Stop Harassing Nursing Mothers!

by Barbara Behrmann, Ph.D.

(c) 2006

It’s happened again.  Another mother hassled for the audacity of nursing her child in public.  This time, not only was a mother asked to stop nursing, but she was actually kicked off a Delta airplane that had been sitting on the runway for several hours.  The incident, which took place in Burlington Vermont’s airport, led to nurse-in demonstrations at Delta airlines ticket counters across the country.   It also resulted in a flurry of on-line comments, including those revealing the worst kinds of misinformation and ignorance.

Good grief.  You would think I should be blasé by now.   But situations like this never cease to amaze me. 

Parenting is hard enough.  And traveling with young children, especially while being cooped up in an enclosed place, is even harder.  No matter how uncomfortable flying has become, it’s a piece of cake when you’re flying alone, no baby to care for, no toddlers to entertain during delays, no pressure of making sure the baby’s cries don’t incur the wrath of the other passengers or that a little foot doesn’t continually kick an adjacent seat.  To be able to nap or write, or read a book without pictures is pure indulgence by comparison.  Is it really necessary for others to add to a mother’s challenges?   

It is not indecent to nurse one’s child.  What is indecent is the way nursing mothers are treated.  And it is not simply indecent, it is often against the law.

In Vermont, where this latest incident took place, the law clearly states that a mother may breastfeed her child in any place of public accommodation in which the mother and child would otherwise have a legal right to be.   In fact, over 20 states (in the U.S.) have enacted legislation to clarify that women have the right to nurse in public without being accused of indecent exposure, lewd behavior or obscenity.  

The late Elizabeth N. Baldwin, Esq., devoted much of her career to legal issues surrounding breastfeeding.  Her words remain on the La Leche League website, an excellent source of legal information.  “No one,” she asserts, “has the right to tell a mother how to feed her baby, especially a way that increases the risk of illness to both mother and baby!”  Even in states without official legislation, you have the right to nurse wherever you go with your baby, be it in the public or private domain.  

The right to nurse in public, I must point out, does not simply apply to women nursing infants.  It applies equally to women nursing toddlers.  Children nurse for all sorts of reasons:  hunger, thirst, comfort, boredom, pleasure, security, and more.  And they wean when they are ready, not when a stranger declares they are “too old.”  In fact, many people don’t realize that various health organizations, including the World Health Organization and UNICEF recommend nursing for at least two years.  And they don’t realize that there are plenty of nursing toddlers around.  It’s simply that moms who nurse for more than a year or so tend to go underground to avoid situations like this. 

The medical community has been spreading the message that “breast is best.”  Researchers are discovering more and more differences between breastfed and formula-fed babies.  At local, state, and national conferences and task forces, well-meaning individuals put their heads together to figure out how to promote breastfeeding and increase the rates of initiation and duration.   But it makes little difference if women are simply going to face ridicule and harassment.

At stake is more than our comfort levels.  Until our culture becomes more comfortable and accepting of nursing mothers – and more knowledgeable about nursing – we compromise the health and well-being of our children.  We promote the message that breastfeeding is important, but unattainable.   And we perpetuate the myth that breasts are designed to “turn-on” a man, but not to latch on a baby.

Mothers don’t need to “get a room,” as one woefully ignorant writer decried.  Instead, they need to get support!  Women should be applauded for their efforts to meet their children’s needs, wherever they may be, not harassed and ridiculed, or, kicked off a plane!

I can only hope that situations like this, however appallingly ridiculous – and illegal – will help draw attention to the discrimination nursing mothers too often face and will  help educate an uninformed and ignorant public. 

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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.