On nursing...

I'm nursing Zay exclusively and so far I've had to nurse him in the bathroom of a baseball stadium, at the park, in restaurants, at the homes of various relatives, countless times in the van, and, Friday, in my hair stylist's chair.

Friday, when I realized Zay was hungry and would not settle for the pacifier, I reached for the blanket and another customer in the salon said, "Girl, just do what you have to do. I'll look away. I nursed ALL my babies."

Now I'm fairly good at staying covered while nursing, but that I needed that encouragement. Especially since when people realize I'm nursing they often avoid making eye contact or give a disapproving glare.

I am NOT a lactivist. I was bottle fed and I survived, and I don't have an opinion on whether or not other women should breastfeed. I just find it sad that something so natural is (in our culture) made out to be unnatural.

Even children have been conditioned to believe that babies should drink from bottles. When they see me pull out a blanket and tuck Zay behind it, we usually have the following conversation:

Child: What are you doing?

Me: I'm feeding the baby.

Child: Where's his bottle?

Me: He doesn't use a bottle. He drinks from my chest.

Child: Can I see? (Trying to peek behind the blanket.)

Me: No. He needs his privacy.

Child: Oh.

I concluded one such conversation by asking a little girl, "Do you know anything about mamas feeding babies?" And she said, "Yes. It's kinda like a baby cow." Now she gets it.

I know a mom who throws out the toy bottles that come with her children's dolls. She says the little mamas (and sometimes daddies) hold the "babies" to their chest when they are hungry. I think that's so cute.

Like I said, I don't think there's anything wrong with bottle feeding, but there's nothing wrong with God's design for feeding babies either. I'm fairly sure baby Jesus was nursed. You haven't seen any ceramic bottles in the Nativity scenes, have you?