What's all the Fuss About- Our perceptions of breastfeeding in Public

During the week of June9th, 2014, this picture surfaced on facebook and other social media sites with horrid responses at the young lady on the left breastfeeding her child in public at her graduation from college in California. A week prior to this superstar Rihanna (on the right) wore this sheer see through dress to the Council of Fashion Designers of America event.   The comparison in this picture is not to degrade Rihanna for showing her body (which is her perogative) but to compare society's response to the different displays of a woman's body and what is perceived to be acceptable. 

Breastfeeding- is not done enough especially in the African American community. People sometimes go the easier route, the more auto-pilot route of feeding formula or using bottles.

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Attachment and Bonding

American Society says

International views

Countless times I have been asked, “As a foreigner living abroad, how do you know when you have acclimated to the new culture and have been accepted by the local people?” My response has always been; when the locals feel comfortable engaging in normative cultural behaviors in front me; Breastfeeding, in my case. Breastfeeding is an integral part of motherhood here in the Philippines, and is encouraged for as long as mothers are able to nurse their infants. It is a rite of passage in a way that a woman is able to provide for her child in the most natural way; not to mention breastfeeding transcends socio-economic status, any woman no

 matter income or family size can do this; and sets the precedence of expectations for well babies. The local women can be found breastfeeding in a variety of places; from the Jeepney which is the local transportation; to sitting outside their homes, during community meetings, and even at the market.

The technique is seamless; a mother will hold the child in one arm and pull down her shirt in order to take out one her breasts and the rest is history. There is also a community-assisted approach to breastfeeding, which is milk sharing, where a woman may offer to nurse the child of another mother who is no longer able to lactate. This process is most common among acquaintances and besides the sanitary concern of transmission of fluids through breast milk which can lead to the possible spread of HIV; it seems to be an effective method in pulling together resources and problem solving. 

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