I don’t know a single mom who’s said, “Time to breastfeed my baby, better go to a public place where we’re both on display and away from the comforts of home.” In my experience, breastfeeding in public isn’t something moms prefer to do; we do it out of necessity. I went through great lengths to avoid it, personally, and often used the backseat of my car as opposed to anywhere available in a store or restaurant. Still, there were times when that simply wasn’t an option, and I had to face the most annoying parts of breastfeeding in public.
Just a few days ago, I saw a mom breastfeeding in a restaurant and as my family and I were leaving, I lingered a bit. I really wanted to give her a compliment or some words of encouragement or simply acknowledge the awesome thing she was doing, but ultimately I decided not to. For starters, she was in a corner and surrounded by family, so it’s not as if she didn’t have a support system with her. Second of all, she looked totally and completely comfortable, so I think it was safe to assume she didn’t need a random stranger interrupting her (even if it was in the hopes of relaying a verbal thumbs-up).
Either way, and even though I ended up not saying anything I was suitably impressed. I was impressed not just because she was feeding her kid with her body (which, you know, is a pretty amazing thing) but because she didn't look like she was letting any of the following things bother her: