• Tweet

From our friends at Mom Logic

It’s a tried and true “hot button” issue: Breastfeeding in public. Every few months, a mom is chastised by authorities or bystanders for nursing her child on a bus, or at a sporting event, or, most recently, in a restaurant (the latter was called out by none other than reality-show star Kim Kardashian).

Author’s personal collection
I subscribe to the theory that a woman should be able to nurse anywhere, anytime. It’s a woman’s right … and, I believe, a preschooler’s right. One night when we were out to dinner, my 4-year-old daughter casually announced that she had to “milk her baby” — and proceeded to pull down her princess dress so her doll could “latch on.” (Remarkably, my daughter simultaneously drank her juice. I must say, I was impressed by her ability to multitask!)

It certainly did get us some attention. A couple of diners giggled (some a bit uncomfortably), but a few gave me the stinkeye. What was I supposed to do?! Suggest to my faux-lactating preschooler that she hide herself with a nursing cover (or “blanket of shame,” as one friend jokingly calls them)? Do they even make them in size 4T?

What would you do if your toddler did this? Would you laugh, or be uncomfortable and make her stop?