Breastfeeding is one of the many endearing moments of motherhood. No matter what time it is, what mom is doing, or how many people are around, when a baby suddenly wants to eat, it needs to be fed.
Despite the obvious benefits to the baby, there is still an ongoing debate about the ethics and appropriateness of breastfeeding in public. Оно becoming more acceptable, but it still attracts much more attention than bottle-feeding. And unfortunately, that attention is not always positive.
In 2018, there was a situation that then went viral on the internet. The gist of it was that a woman from Texas named Melanie Libson Dudley was breastfeeding her infant son in public in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico and then unknown man approached her and asked her to cover up.
But the most surprising part of this story was the mother’s reaction to this request. It’s worth noting that breastfeeding has been a rather embarrassing procedure for Melanie, so she always tried to hide or cover herself while feeding her three-month-old son. In addition, the woman was already wearing a cape, but the heat of the scorching sun forced her to take it off.
Melanie shared her experience with Yahoo Lifestyle:
“I was on vacation in Cabo San Lucas with my family and suddenly a man came up to me and asked me to cover up. I’m usually careful about breastfeeding and stuff like that. But this time we were sitting in the most deserted part of the restaurant, so I thought nothing would happen.
I was covered anyway, but the heat in the room was unbearable. It was like 95 degrees, and my baby and I were sweating profusely. And then I thought, “You know what? I’m on vacation, so I’m going to take this thing off, I don’t care,” she continued.
She added that as soon as she took off the cape, a man approached her and asked her to cover up.
Melanie was stunned. She immediately asked her husband to get a nursing poncho out of their luggage, and covered her head with it in confusion.
“I…just put it on my head. I don’t know why I did it. I can’t say I was scared or anything. My brain just told me to do it. It’s possible that I was just really embarrassed and that’s why I decided to escape that world by covering my head,” the woman explained. Dudley also said the stranger rebuked her for not respecting local conservative traditions.
After she posted this story on the Internet, it just got a colossal amount of support. To be more specific, we were talking about more than 130 thousand reactions and 200 thousand reposts. Many users commented on the incident as well. One of them wrote: “If you have to feed your child in a public place – do it. If you don’t have to or don’t like it, don’t do it. But don’t you dare blame a woman for breastfeeding! I’m sure you people can handle seeing a baby being fed for a few seconds”.
“I think this woman is adorable. Anyway, if you still feel the need to cover up while breastfeeding, try wrapping a small handkerchief around your neck so that it slightly covers the baby’s head. That way you won’t provoke anyone and you won’t get hot”.
“You know, in my opinion, all these pads and devices to hide the process of feeding, it’s just… too much. It’s a natural process after all, there’s nothing to be ashamed of,” wrote another user.
After the story exploded online, Dudley noted that the whole issue wouldn’t be one-fifth as popular if women around the world weren’t so concerned about breastfeeding in public.
Coincidentally, the next month after this incident was August – National Breastfeeding Month. Dudley said she hopes her story will be a beacon of hope and reliable support for all mothers, whether they cover up or not.
Melanie is not the first woman to be criticized for breastfeeding her baby in a public place. A year earlier, another woman publicly claimed to have been harassed for the same reason. That woman’s name was Nicole Blackman. The only difference from Melanie’s case was that she was told to cover up by a female stranger instead of a man, but that doesn’t diminish the seriousness of the issue.
And four months earlier, a similar incident happened to Avery Lane, who was asked to cover herself with a towel while feeding her baby.
And these are just the cases that have been leaked to the media and publicized. How many other cases have we not even heard of…?
