A Mother's View from the Pool: Breastfeeding by the Waterby Michele Cheplic | More from this Blogger 13 Jun 2009 04:13 AM It's that time of the year again... time for a new season of "A Mother's View from the Pool." Last year I kvetched about kids wearing Crocs in the pool, babies wearing teeny-weeny bikinis, and parents, who use lifeguards as their personal babysitters, while they chat on their cellphones, read their rag mags, and work on their tans. This year we are fortunate not to have to make the daily drive to our local city pool. By a rare stroke of luck the fees we pay to live around here were actually used to fund something worthwhile (besides snow removal): Construction of a new neighborhood pool. Now, instead of loading the car with pool paraphernalia, all I have to do is make like a pack mule and stroll less than 5 minutes down the street while my part fish/part preschooler screams: "Moooooooooomy huuuuuuuuurrrrry!!" Prior to the pool's opening, each resident was given a long list of rules we would need to adhere to should we want to return in the future. I thought about those rules the other day when I heard about a mom from the UK who was recently given the boot when she whipped out her boob and started to breastfeed her baby at her local pool. Laura Whotton of Nottingham was reportedly "rebuked" when she tried to nurse her infant son while watching her older child swim. According to reports, the multi-tasking mother didn't want to let either one of her boys down, so she decided to expose "the girls" and let her baby breastfeed while keeping a watchful eye on her older son while he swam in the pool. Apparently, her decision didn't sit well with pool authorities, who informed her that breastfeeding was not allowed at the John Carroll Leisure Centre. The report doesn't say whether Whotton was using a towel or other type of "hooter hider" to discreetly shield her snacking son. Regardless, Whotton was clearly upset that she was told to cover up. "People in bikinis were showing more skin and breast than I was," Whotton told local news reporters. The breastfeeding advocate also noted that the incident "could put people off from going swimming," since they wouldn't be allowed to bring their infants with them. I think that's being a bit overdramatic, but still, enough people sided with Whotton that the City Council amended its rules regarding poolside noshing in order to accommodate future breastfeeders. So the story has a happy ending... for breastfeeding moms, anyway. And it got me thinking; on a typical summer's day, who traditionally escorts children to public pools? In my experience, good ol' mom is placed on swim patrol, and most mothers I know could care less if one of their peers had to briefly expose a private part to quiet their screaming child. For that matter, I don't know many men who would complain about seeing a woman's breast at the pool. What do you think about moms breastfeeding at public pools? Related Articles: A Mother's View from the Pool-Bikinis on Babies? A Mother's View from the Pool: Why are you Wearing Crocs in the Water? Breastfeeding At 35,000 Feet = High-Flying Controversy Learn more about Michele Cheplic  Michele Cheplic was born and raised in Hilo, Hawaii, but now lives in Wisconsin. Michele graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a degree in Journalism. Relevantparenting tags User Comments  Valorie Delp (49340) 15 Jun 2009 03:56 AMLOL Well you know what I'm going to say right? I do however, not want to see a breastfeeding mother IN the pool. Nor do I want to see a mom get mad when a curious kid asks what she's doing. Last summer there was a mom nursing on the side of the kiddy pool. So my then 5yo asked what she was doing. She pointed. . .and well, she is kind of loud. I just told dd that she was "nursing." You'd have thought that I had personally complained as the woman began to berate me for not actually saying the word "breast." And that I should teach my children better so that they recognize something natural. Um. . .okay. ;-)  Cat-Mom-of-3 (180) 15 Jun 2009 09:24 AMWhy does feeding ones baby the way nature intended have to be such an issue? We were obviously intended to feed our babies wherever we are as we do have a portable milk supply. Well I do feel it is no big deal and as for what to say to inquiring children, how about the baby's mother is feeding him/her, that is how they drink their milk when they are babies!  Michele Cheplic |
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