So i’ve been facing a quandry that leaves me wondering how other mothers manage.
We’ll have guests at home and its time to feed baby Barack. I sit there trying to figure out if to just whip out a boob and feed the squirming screeming baby to quiet him so I can follow the conversation, or if I should leave the room and go feed him in a private room to avoid embarassing whatever male visitors.
For a while I had decided to follow the Muslim rule whereby I would whip out a boob if the male present was related to me and go into a separate room if they were not related. I think that doing this made my dad and father in law uncomfortable at first but they soon seemed to get over it.
For Easter we had close family friends over who also have a baby and I decided to just go ahead and feed in front of them. That seemed to make the other mother comfortable enough so she went about pumping right there. Both our hubbies didn’t seem to mind. What a relief!
As I get ready to go home for a few weeks I’m wondering how to navigate this one. I know that being gone for a while has left me a little hazy on how things are done. Plus i’ve never had a baby in Kenya before. So, whom to nurse in front of?
How do you mommies out there deal with this one?
boobs at work: lifted from Arnie Becker photograpy
5 comments
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April 15, 2009 at 6:59 am
Vieve
try this………….it worked for me.
if you are nursing in front of other people, try cover up baby and boob combi with a light kanga or lesso leaving space for him to breathe.
at least it gives you and baby Barrack your privacy if with others.
April 16, 2009 at 12:30 am
prousette
You can nurse anywhere so long as you cover the “offending part” just leaving the baby with breathing space just as vieve says.
Within the home it should not be too much of a problem though, most of us this side of the world do not mind at all. I see mommies breastfeeding in buses, matatus etc.
April 20, 2009 at 8:14 am
Carol
I used to think this was a natural, automatic and undebatable way of feeding a baby……….till I came to Europe and realized that it was just so african. My baby, if I will have one, I will breast feed him as often as possible, and wherever…….for sure. I will not hesitate ,not a second.
April 23, 2009 at 4:29 am
Maya
Hey Mwananchi,
You are such a pleasant read and thought I should tag you for one of those honest scrap awards, check out my blog for whats required. Enjoy the young man! Cheers! Maya
July 24, 2009 at 8:50 am
mrembo
I am late to the party.. but here is my few cents on the issue.
I breatfed anywhere, any time, once even on the bus. I always had a nice light cloth (cloth diaper.. clean ofcourse) to cover myself, so one never saw my boob, but my child ate when he had too. Strange thing was when in Ug I was very concsious about breastfeeding in public. I found myself unable to breastfeed infront of my dad and any of the male guests and would leave the room. Then again baby was much older (9 months) and had cut back significantly on the breastfeeding.
In Denmark it is so ok to breastfeed in public. Ofcourse women kinda cover the booby so that it is not on display, but the intial, remove boob from bra and into baby’s mouth, will ofcourse involve some flashing!
About the tough days when baby cries and cries. Just hang in there. I clearly remember when baba baby would come home and I would hand the baby right over and go to the supermarket for a hour just to decompress. I swear it gets better with time. The trick for me was to let go of all expectations about how he was supposed to behave at that age cause baby was absolutely not like other babies, never slept when he was supposed to. I also said “screw all my priorities.. right now he comes first”. So once I just started going with the flow.. life was much better.
From four months.. the baby carrier for the back was a life saver. Total life saver. I used it till he was about 18 months old. I swear by it.
http://www.ergobabycarriers.com/
Good luck and hang in there. It gets better perhaps not immediately but with time.