Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Little Lactivist Strikes Again!

Winning International Symbol for Breastfeeding:

You may have heard about the woman who was kicked off a Delta airplane for breastfeeding her baby. Basically she was nursing her child in the second to last row, in a window seat, next to her husband. They were the only ones in that row. The flight attendant offered her a blanket to cover up more, she declined, and the flight attendand stated that she was offended, and had them removed from the plane. Yikes! I can't imagine how much noisier flights would be if babies were not allowed to breastfeed. And Max for one is not able to nurse under a blanket, nor should he have to. Yes, the mother could have taken the blanket just to keep the peace, but how will change ever happen if all we do is placate ignorant people and cater to them being "offended" by something as simple as feeding a baby? This woman was made to feel ashamed and embarassed, as if she was doing something wrong. Ugh. Not only that, but if this attitude of breastfeeding as something gross, shameful, dirty, etc. continues, we will see young people, new moms, soon-to-be-moms making a choice not to breastfeed their baby because they are embarassed, or they think it is inconvenient, when clearly it is the healthiest thing for babies. That would be sad.

So today there was a nurse in across the country at Delta ticket counters everywhere. Not only to say "Shame on Delta!" but to call for congress to pass the Breastfeeding Promotion and Protection Act which would allow all women to nurse in public regardless of which state they live in (currently different states have different laws). At PDX (Portland Airport) there were 40 mamas with their babys! Of course Max and I were there, too. There were many reporters, photographers, and journalists. We made it on all the local news stations today, and apparently there were a few people from the Associated Press, so we could even have made it national- like USA Today, which has been covering the story closely.
Edited to add: here are some links to news reports. You can see us in some of them!
The photographers loved Max, with his "Got Breastmilk?" t-shirt on. Of course there was too much going on for him to nurse, but when we got home he quickly ate, and fell asleep. Ron took this sweet picture of him, resting his hand on my hand. No blanket covering...is this offensive???

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Ell!
I check at least twice a month---it's so nice to know what's happening in your neck of the woods! I absolutely LOVE the video of Max- I feel like I get to see him growing and changing at least a little- even though we don't get to visit often. All our love to you, Ron and Max! Happy Thanksgiving! Love, Sara-belle :)

Anonymous said...

Hi there! I'm a newcomer -- found your blog while lurking at MDC about the PDX Nurse-In today. First off, I am soooo proud of and excited for you guys that were able to do the nurse-in. Thanks for taking action on behalf of all of us! Second... could Max be any cuter? I really don't think so! Especially in that halloween costume... there are just no words for that much cuteness. Bless you, Mama! Good work.

Megan

kyouell said...

Hey! I don't have time today to watch the videos (we are off to our 2nd Thanksgiving), but wanted to let you know that I did write to both my senators about this issue. Sadly, what with Evan needing to go back in for another catheterization, there was no way I was going to take him to anything crowded, but I'm sure glad you and Max could go! Woo-hoo!