Breastfeeding in Public is Appropriate
Time after time, we hear about a mother told to cover up or leave an establishment because her breastfeeding in public has made someone uncomfortable. Repeatedly, this controversy is shared on social media and the news, but does a woman feeding her baby in public really need to be a controversy? She is not hurting anybody so what is the big deal? The only one being hurt is the mother because she is criticized, and made to feel that she is in the wrong for breastfeeding in public. However, breastfeeding in public is appropriate.
Breastfeeding is so necessary, even the law supports breast feeding in public. Women’s rights to nurse in public are protected by law in forty-nine states. In addition, twenty-nine states protect women from indecent exposure. For this reason, because breastfeeding in public is legal, that
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Newman claims breast milk provides all the nutrients to maximize a baby’s mental compacity (10). Results from tests of intelligence among children proved breast fed children scored higher levels of intelligence. Heidi Murkoff, author of America’s Best Selling Childcare Series defends, “Even the most scientifically designed artificial nipple fails to give a baby’s jaw, gums, teeth, and palate the workout he or she would get mother’s breast- a workout that ensures optimum oral development and some perks for baby’s future teeth” (4). Cavities are less likely to develop for breast fed babies.
Furthermore, a mother’s health also benefits from breastfeeding. It helps to drop the extra pounds that were gained during the pregnancy by burning on average five hundred calories a day, as well as helps the uterus to shrink faster back to pre-pregnancy size (Murkoff 5). Breastfeeding can decrease the likelihood of developing postpartum depression. In addition, cancer in the breast, uterus, and ovaries are less likely to