My Breastfeeding Rant

This morning I woke up early so I could take my daughter to before-school chorus rehearsal. It wouldn’t have been so bad getting up an hour earlier than usual if I had actually gone to bed at a reasonable time. Instead, Albie and I stayed up watching Sisters – the hilariously funny movie with Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. Then, we talked about the movie, then let the dogs out, then talked about how I had to get up ridiculously early, then went to bed around 2:00 am.

So, after dropping my daughter off at school at 7:40 am, I decided I would just “lay down for 10 minutes” since I only had four and a half hours of sleep.

That’s when I had this dream:

I was angrily writing a Facebook post about the importance of breastfeeding in public. I had somehow heard that a woman I knew was breastfeeding her baby on a bench in a park and she was harassed for her indecency. “Dream Me” decided to take a stand against all the breastfeeding bullies in the world and fired off a short exposition about the importance of nursing in public.

I saw myself typing the post.

“I don’t usually use Facebook to get up on a pedestal, but today I can’t just sit by and let another injustice occur. Breastfeeding is totally natural and acceptable and it is just our own hangup as Americans that we find it offensive. People breastfeed in Europe all the time and nobody gets upset. Thank you. I’m off my pedestal.”

When I woke from my short, informative nap, I decided this must be an issue my subconscious (unconscious?) mind feels very strongly about. My conscious mind does, too. I just didn’t realize it was at the top of my list of causes at this point in time since I have no plans to breastfeed again in this lifetime. Ever. I already did that 10 years ago for 17 months. I did it in public and in private – because a hungry baby has no idea where you are and frankly, doesn’t care.

Kind of like my dogs. They don’t care who’s around when I roll out their food containers. They just want to eat.

Please don’t get upset that I compared my dogs to children. Then I’ll have to dream about ranting about how pets are part of the family and should be treated with the utmost respect.

(Here’s the trailer for Sisters, in case you want to check it out. You’re welcome.)