Woman kicked off plane for breast-feeding baby

soulsinging

mookie9999 wrote:

I think this is an extreme statement. This wasn't going to be an ongoing trend of from that point on until the baby no longer is breast fed they would have a blanket thrown over them, unless they were Jacko's kid. Just for the duration of the flight. While it is the mothers right to breast feed, it's not that terrible of a request to use a blanket. BTW, without having any little ones of my own, isn't 22 months a tad bit old to still be breast feeding??

yeah, i thought the same thing... that's almost 2 years... aren't they walking and talking by then?

soulsinging

angelica wrote:

And I get the impression that when you all can't quite see it, somehow you find a way to magically fill the image in with imagination--this assumption coming from the amount of staring some of you are doing! Like we actually ARE naked! This also explains the expression "undressing someone with your eyes".

oh, i thought that was common knowledge? that's exactly what we're doing. sorry girls, but if we've seen you, we've seen you naked!

angelica

mookie9999 wrote:

I think this is an extreme statement. This wasn't going to be an ongoing trend of from that point on until the baby no longer is breast fed they would have a blanket thrown over them, unless they were Jacko's kid. Just for the duration of the flight. While it is the mothers right to breast feed, it's not that terrible of a request to use a blanket. BTW, without having any little ones of my own, isn't 22 months a tad bit old to still be breast feeding??

Maybe 22 months old is "old" in your estimation. Thankfully, we all get to make that decision for ourselves when we breastfeed, based on our own personal criteria.

I don't doubt many people find this to be an extreme statement. Would you want to sit on the plane for just one meal, with all that was new going on around you with a blanket over your head? Because of the good opinions of other people? Should you be expected to?

angelica

soulsinging wrote:

oh, i thought that was common knowledge? that's exactly what we're doing. sorry girls, but if we've seen you, we've seen you naked!

Just put it right out there! I'm laughing hysterically, by the way! But do you really see us is what I want to know? Or do you see the Playboy version, where we are airbrushed, hair blowing in the "wind", while sitting there nonchalantly spreadeagled?

callen

but if your uncomfortable with women breastfeading....or even just looking at a breast...well thats the problem...not the breast feeding.
I think a woman breast feeding her child is just a beutiful thing. Not only should it be allowed but encouraged. Maybe if this did happen people wouldn't squirm so much when one does make an appearance.

angelica

callen wrote:

but it your uncomfortable with women breastfeading....or even just looking at a breast...well thats the problem...not the breast feeding.
I think a woman breast feeding her child is just a beutiful thing. Not only should it be allowed but encouraged. Maybe if this did happen people wouldn't squirm so much when one does make an appearance.

I completely agree. And hopefully the tides are changing, and someday we will make our family bonding time more valuable to us than "what other people think". Not to mention your astute point that ironically, as we learn to accept the beauty in nature, the discomfort disappears right along with the repression and imbalanced views.

JaneNY

mookie9999 wrote:

BTW, without having any little ones of my own, isn't 22 months a tad bit old to still be breast feeding??

No. Children allowed to breastfeed unrestrictedly as nature intended, the average weaning age is between 3 and 4. That doesn't mean they are breastfeeding as they would when an infant. Toward the end they're eating table food like everyone else, and nursing is just a few seconds a few times a day, and then you go, 'oh when was the last time they did that'. That's a natural weaning. Breastfeeding in primitive cultures also contributes to natural child spacing. Without use of contraception, children allowed to breastfeed unrestrictedly, day and night, will cause children to be spaced between 2 and 3 years apart at least. You might want to look at the following book:

Breastfeeding and Natural Child Spacing
http://www.amazon.com/Breastfeeding-Natural-Child-Spacing-Ecological/dp/0926412205

There's a lot of ignorance about breastfeeding because most people haven't seen it or done it and don't understand what is normal in the course of breastfeeding children. I nursed 2 kids until they weaned themselves, and was a breastfeeding counselor for a time, so I have some experience.

callen

angelica wrote:

I completely agree. And hopefully the tides are changing, and someday we will make our family bonding time more valuable to us than "what other people think". Not to mention your astute point that ironically, as we learn to accept the beauty in nature, the discomfort disappears right along with the repression and imbalanced views.

I've flown alot.......and airliners are pretty dirty and funky..hence I would never ever put an airline blanket over my head...let alone my infant...they're freakin nasty....

mookie9999

angelica wrote:

Would you want to sit on the plane for just one meal, with all that was new going on around you with a blanket over your head? Because of the good opinions of other people? Should you be expected to?

Am I hideously deformed? J/K I've been on many flights, and prefer to have my view shut off for most of the flight. Many a blanket have graced my face during a flight.

mookie9999

JaneNY wrote:

There's a lot of ignorance about breastfeeding because most people haven't seen it or done it and don't understand what is normal in the course of breastfeeding children. I nursed 2 kids until they weaned themselves, and was a breastfeeding counselor for a time, so I have some experience.

I stand corrected. I guess the rule of once the baby is heavier than a golden retriever it's time to stop, no longer applies

farfromglorified

angelica wrote:

You have your own unique way of cracking me up in the "breast" threads. And now that I think of it, you seem to turn up in them, saying very little....like some kind of watcher!

I always enjoy watching people get worked up over nothing.

callen

mookie9999 wrote:

I stand corrected. I guess the rule of once the baby is heavier than a golden retriever it's time to stop, no longer applies

freakin hillarious....thanks.

angelica

mookie9999 wrote:

Am I hideously deformed? J/K I've been on many flights, and prefer to have my view shut off for most of the flight. Many a blanket have graced my face during a flight.

It sounds like this was by your own choice, rather than because other people suggested it for their own comfort against your own purposes. As parents we are our baby's only advocates. I support it when someone stands up for what they believe in when it does not harm others. Especially when the problem is with others.

JaneNY

mookie9999 wrote:

I stand corrected. I guess the rule of once the baby is heavier than a golden retriever it's time to stop, no longer applies

lol - golden retrievers aren't something i have a lot of experience with, but i'm guessing they weighed more than my little 35 lb monsters

mookie9999

angelica wrote:

It sounds like this was by your own choice, rather than because other people suggested it for their own comfort against your own purposes. As parents we are our baby's only advocates. I support it when someone stands up for what they believe in when it does not harm others. Especially when the problem is with others.

Do you honestly feel that the action of putting a blanket around the feeding site for the duration of said feeding would cause the baby harm? Or is it possible that both the flight attendant overreacted and a litigious mother was ready to pounce to make a headline in this soundbite a second dateline kind of world?

angelica

mookie9999 wrote:

Do you honestly feel that the action of putting a blanket around the feeding site for the duration of said feeding would cause the baby harm? Or is it possible that both the flight attendant overreacted and a litigious mother was ready to pounce to make a headline in this soundbite a second dateline kind of world?

Maybe I'm not being clear in making my point: If I am sacrificing my baby at any point in time for the opinions of others, rather than doing what I feel is in my child's best interests, I firmly believe that my priorities are skewed.

angelica

mookie9999 wrote:

Do you honestly feel that the action of putting a blanket around the feeding site for the duration of said feeding would cause the baby harm? Or is it possible that both the flight attendant overreacted and a litigious mother was ready to pounce to make a headline in this soundbite a second dateline kind of world?

To add, I'm guessing that the airline doesn't care much one way or another, and that their corporate "ethics" hinges on the values of the morality of their customers. In other words, I suspect that the airline policity is attempting to accomodate the comfort of as many paying customers as is possible, and that they are willing to sacrifice one or two paying customers in order to do so. Since the airline was not willing to negotiate and work out a solution with the mother, whereupon each base position was valued, I support the mother for taking action through the proper channels. By doing so through legal action, such issues become addressed, and clarified, and eventually by such incidents, including public awareness and debate, originating from the backbone of a woman taking action I respect, as a society we find ourselves dragged along kicking and screaming into our own growth as a whole.

mookie9999

angelica wrote:

Since the airline was not willing to negotiate and work out a solution with the mother, whereupon each base position was valued, I support the mother for taking action through the proper channels

I see where you are coming from and agree that a mother must do whatever action is necessary to protect their child. However wasn't the blanket a solution? She was not asked to stop breast feeding, but rather to cover up.

VictoryGin

JaneNY wrote:

No. Children allowed to breastfeed unrestrictedly as nature intended, the average weaning age is between 3 and 4. That doesn't mean they are breastfeeding as they would when an infant. Toward the end they're eating table food like everyone else, and nursing is just a few seconds a few times a day, and then you go, 'oh when was the last time they did that'. That's a natural weaning. Breastfeeding in primitive cultures also contributes to natural child spacing. Without use of contraception, children allowed to breastfeed unrestrictedly, day and night, will cause children to be spaced between 2 and 3 years apart at least. You might want to look at the following book:

Breastfeeding and Natural Child Spacing
http://www.amazon.com/Breastfeeding-Natural-Child-Spacing-Ecological/dp/0926412205

There's a lot of ignorance about breastfeeding because most people haven't seen it or done it and don't understand what is normal in the course of breastfeeding children. I nursed 2 kids until they weaned themselves, and was a breastfeeding counselor for a time, so I have some experience.

it would be fascinating to really get a good idea about crosscultural breastfeeding attitudes and see how socioeconomic status and other things play into each culture. i'd guess that many african cultures have absolutely no problem with breastfeeding in public and that would be a positive value. it wouldn't strike me that many mothers there would use formula, except for higher income women or those who moved from another country like the us. i'd also guess that saudi arabia frowns upon breastfeeding in public because of their female oppression. i'd love to hear about other cultures and their attitudes because it's so interesting. it would be great to see different religious influences too. i mean people here sometimes try to seem all pro-child, pro-life so you think it wouldn't be a big deal, or indecent, to catch a glimpse of what actually feeds the child.

nick1977

This is ridiculous.

Would a mother giving a bottle to an infant be kicked of the plane? Why does it make a difference that the milk happens to come from the mother's breast.

We see much more of a young woman's breast who is wearing a low cut top than we do of a mother's breast who is feeding a child. They don't ask women wearing low cut tops to cover up.