Breastfeeding in Public

As promised, this week I will be blogging about breastfeeding in public. This seems to be such a huge topic at this time; who would have known that feeding your child in public could be so controversial.

Growing up I was a part of a large generation that was formula fed. This wasn’t brought to my attention until my mom asked me why I decided to breastfeed when I was not ever continuously exposed to anyone else that had done so.

In the end breastfeeding is just healthier.

·         Prevents breast cancer for mom

·         Better for baby’s digestive track

·         Helps fight colds, ear infections, and other illness thanks to the specific antibodies that breast             milk has that is not replicable through formula

Never the less, it’s not for everyone and that’s more than acceptable. It’s very demanding and I can honestly say that breastfeeding is one of the hardest things I have ever done; though in the end it is so rewarding.

Moving on, I’m sure we have all seen the posts, the pictures, and the opinions all over Facebook. Everyone is either utterly disgusted with the idea or post pictures in efforts to stand up for nursing mums.

I personally think it would be hilarious to be placed in a situation where another person confronts me about feeding my child. I feel as though I am very respectful when I feed him in public; I do cover myself to the very best of my ability, but any mother who nurses will agree that babies are stubborn and you can either deal with my baby screaming or you might see the back of his head while he eats. Get over it. I, nor any other mom will ever starve our child(ren) for another person’s comfort.  c'est la vie!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aU6Olc7BVXw

This video above is actually of a woman encouraged to cover herself while she fed her little one. In the video they also discussed the laws on breastfeeding in Texas which is where this particular incident took place. Watching this urged me to look up the laws here in New Mexico on the subject.

This is what I came across:

 As well as:

In my opinion women shouldn’t be discouraged for doing something so discouraging in itself. Moms who chose to nurse are the ones who wake up at night to assist their child regardless of whether or not they have a spouse.  Most newborns are up every two-three hours to eat. Just try to convince me that waking up every two-three hours to stay awake for 30 minutes and then trying to go back to sleep isn’t hard. On top of that going into public alone is such a task. Having to frequently handle your upset baby while covering yourself, and uncovering yourself all at the same time. 

Breastfeeding alone is hard and all we are trying to do is give our children the healthier option.

Last weekend I went out to eat with my father. I fed my son just before we left the house; thinking that he would fall asleep in the car and most likely stay asleep. Nope. That didn’t happen.  Instead he sat in his seat for a few minutes in the restaurant before he because distressed and hungry, again.  So of course, I put on my cover and fed my son till he eventually passed out. As I was feeding him a lady who was leaving, passed by our table and gave me a thumbs up! Said, "Yeah! Right on! Good for you! Good for you." 

-That was by far the best feeling ever.

Why I'm here.

I'm Mackenzy, and currently going to school for the end result of a degree in special education. throughout middle school and high school I volunteered in many elementary classroom settings; it wasn't until my junior year that I found my calling.
I always thought about the jobs where you make a lot of money, and originally dismissed the idea of being a teacher. When I initially started assisting in various classes I didn't particularly enjoy it. As a few years passed I came to the conclusion that I could never be a teacher because I just didn't have what it took. I didn't have that authoritative attitude, the students wouldn't listen to me and I felt like I wasn't even much help to the teachers. It was shortly after that, that everything began to fall into place. The students began looking at me as an instructor figure, I started to make my own lesson plans, teaching on my own, started being more involved in school/parent interactions, and started to see what teaching was actually about. Every time I walked into the school I started to forget all my days frustrations, and by the time I got to the classroom they were completely gone. After all, look at those beautiful faces.

Now I have a three month old son who is the light of every single one of my days, his name is Jaxon. He is also the motivation of my aspirations, by the time I graduate he will be able to join preschool, but until then I get to enjoy going to school and being a full-time mommy.

Last semester, though pregnant, was pretty easy. It helped that the classes themselves were not difficult. I think this semester is going to kick my butt, but I am up for the challenge!

This blog is for my current English 211 class, it is my first blog and quite honestly I have never considered the idea of making one but now that I am it will be interesting to see what I come up with. So far I think I have decided to write about life as a mommy and a student. We will see how it goes; hopefully I can try to keep my day to day life interesting enough to entertain the populace. I may decide to bounce around on the ideas of the hottest topics for starters I know that my next blog will most likely be about breastfeeding in public! Other blogs may be about the school systems, government, social media, and maybe even other topics brought to my attention by the other courses that I am taking this semester.

Hopefully my peers and I will be able to share ideas with one another and I personally hope that I am not the only one that is terrible with technology and social media like twitter and this blog! I definitely look forward to reading my classmates various blogs and can’t wait to see what else this semester has in store for us. (: