Carson Peterman

Composition I

Internet course

April 11, 2017

This essays purpose is to argue the reasons to breastfeed in public,

This essays audience is those who feel like breastfeeding in public should not be done.
 Covers Never Stay

I made it six months without a word from anyone. Six months before someone thought

they needed to tell me how disgusted they felt that I would do such a thing in public. My

daughter, Phoenix, started crying because she wanted to eat, so I needed to feed her. It should

have been as simple as it sounds. When your child wants to eat you feed them, right? Not today,

in this overly sexualized word. Breastfeeding has started to make a comeback, but not everyone

seems ready for that. Many people still believe you should breastfeed in a bathroom or

somewhere secluded. Use a cover, they say. Have you ever tried to eat with a blanket over

your head?

Some people feel that breasts only provide as a sexual object. They feel that you can

cover up, or completely leave the area and nurse in your car or a public bathroom. Some people

believe that you can just formula feed instead of breastfeed. However, covers get kicked off, or

make you hot and sweaty. Public restrooms often times seem, smelly, and very unsanitary. And

finally, nothing beats the nutrition for a baby than breastmilk.

The first time I tried to use a cover while nursing ended in disaster. Phoenix always feels

warm, so by the time she finished, we both felt drenched from sweat. With her breathing under

the cover, and her body heat warming up what felt like a ten-foot perimeter, we felt super hot.

The next time I used one, she had better control of her hands and feet. Within thirty seconds she

had the cover off. I tried putting it on again, she had it pulled off of her just as quickly. This went

on for a few more times until I finally decided to just give up on the cover.

Another argument that people have for public breastfeeding-to nurse in a car or

bathroom. During the hot months of summer, you might as well fight the cover fight again rather
than set in the ultra-hot temperatures a car can reach. We as a society get angered by people

leaving their animals in hot cars, we should feel the same when trying to force a mother and her

child into a hot car. Nursing in a car in winter, well, obviouslt that feels super cold. Nursing in a

car at any time will feel uncomfortable. As for nursing in a public restroom, a whole different set

of problems comes up. Public restrooms have germs, on germs, on germs. In an article about

public restroom sanitation the authors found that human-associated bacteria dominate most

public restroom surfaces (Flores, Bates, Knights, Lauber, Stombaugh, Knight, and Fierer 6).

Besides the possible health risks, nursing in a public bathroom with all those germs, smells, and

all around filth seems gross. I would not want to eat in there, so I will not make my baby.

Finally, the last fight people put up about public breastfeeding, formula feeding. Formula

will provide sufficient nutrition if breastfeeding does not work for someone. However,

breastmilk has a much greater nutritional value than formula as well as great benefits for

mothers. Formula has many different kinds because breastmilk proves impossible to replicate.

Breastmilk produces exactly what your baby needs. Also, a study of breastmilk and nutritional

relation states that there seems to be additional health benefits to breastfeeding beyond just the

nutritional value of breast milk (Khalessia and Reichb 306).

Breastfeeding had a lot of complications on its own. Sexualization proves as the biggest

problem with public breastfeeding. However, people should see breasts as a natural food source

for babies. Nursing covers seem almost impossible to use, they get too hot or your baby pulling

and kicking it off. Restrooms, often dirty and gross, do not provide an appropriate place to feed

your baby. Even supplementing with formula does not prove good enough when compared next

to breastfeeding, so public breastfeeding proves impossible to avoid. Women should feel

confident and proud of their decision to breastfeed their children. Breastfeeding has many
complications for a new mother. Public breastfeeding should not worry new mothers. After all,

they only provide the best for their babies while doing so.
 Works Cited

Flores, Gilberto E., et all. microbial Biogeography of Public Restroom Surfaces. Plos ONE,

vol. 6, no. 11, Nov. 2011, pp. 1-7. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0028132.

Khalessi Ali and Stephanie M. Reich. A Month of Breastfeeding Associated with Greater

Adherence to Paediatric Nutrition Guidelines. Journal of Reproductive & Infant

Psychology, vol. 31, no 3, July 2013, pp. 299-308. EBSCOhost, doi:

1080/0264838.2013.784898