Dear Editor,
Breastfeeding for whatever reason is becoming more and more a point of discussion primarily dismissing this practice.
I read the letter from Proud solo mama Mary and Baby G. I will not profess to be an expert in breastfeeding. I understand the frustration, but there is always a reason for reaction. What I believe cause the reaction to this lady breastfeeding a two-year-old baby in public is exactly that – breastfeeding a TWO-year-old in public. This is a rarity in this country and understandable so people will react in different ways. Some surprised, some disgusted, etc., but reality is that action brings reaction. More the reason why one should not resort to name calling, because name calling is the result of lack of information.
Within the last three months at least three times I have read about mothers breastfeeding their babies on buses, trains, malls doctors’ offices, etc., like I mentioned before, primarily dismissing this centuries-old practice. My reaction remains that this is a hypocritical double standard. We admire and permit the same female to walk the beach and enter places of business on the beach (in public) with merely a piece of material covering those same breasts and rear, but we are ready to condemn a mother from feeding her newborn child in the original and natural way.
Do not the majority of us get annoyed when an innocent baby cries in public places? And don’t we definitely know the kind of look that we give the mother? If breastfeeding is the means of quieting that baby is that really so offensive?
Another reason for me considering the breastfeeding issue in public a double standard is something that of late we see and tolerate constantly. We would sit among each other and talk about the disgusting behavior of same sex couples kissing and fondling each other in public, but we would not react to them the same way we do to mothers who breastfeed their babies in public.
And by the way, I think that I dare mention that all mothers know the effects of breast feeding.
Now this. In his speech on the throne the King said several times that the economy of the country is strong. He even said that in 2019 the economy will grow for the sixth year in a row. This falls exactly in line with what I have been stating for a long time. For years the Netherlands has been in charge of the supervision of the finances of the kingdom and stood by and just let things go the wrong way in the rest of the kingdom instead of correcting it right away. Does political correctness and political infighting trump the wellbeing of the people?
Russell A. Simmons
