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I remember a few years back when my niece and her husband held a cookout for the 4th of July, a big family and friends gathering. My nephew and his wife where there and they had a newborn at the time. My nephew’s wife was breastfeeding their second child and she politely excused herself to go inside to the living room when it came time for her to breastfeed the baby so she could do it discreetly and more in private plus it was quiet and air conditioned and there were no mosquitoes buzzing about. But that didn’t last long as my niece’s triplet girls who were not quite 4 years old at the time and just adored their baby cousin Vivian and their Aunt Ro, followed her into the house.

My nephew’s wife was completely covered up with a blanket while breastfeeding but that didn’t stop the triplets from asking “whatcha doing with/to Vivian, Aunt Ro”, “Why is she under a blanket?, Is she cold?”; they were very curious. Their aunt told them she was feeding the baby but the triplets didn’t understand as they didn’t see any bowls, plates, spoons or sippy cups or baby bottles. Their mom came in and explained to them that their aunt was breast feeding the baby just like she had done with them when they were little babies. Their aunt asked their mom first if it was OK and then she pulled the blanket back so the triplets could see.

And their questions and reactions were priceless. Rather than thinking it was in anyway odd or unnatural they just had questions like asking their mom if she really did that when they were babies. And she told them, yes, “as much as I could but since you were triplets, I didn’t have enough milk in my breasts to feed all of you all that you needed so you also were also sometimes fed with baby bottles and formula milk, sometimes with my breast milk added to it when you were very small in order to help you grow big and strong”. And they said things like, "wow" and "cool".

One of the triplets asked her Aunt Ro if breast milk was like “real milk” like from the Turkey Hill store and did she have to warm it up first like in the microwave like their mom and dad still did for the cup of milk they got before bedtime, and one asked if it came in different flavors like chocolate or strawberry or apple juice. Then little Helen stroked her baby’s cousin’s head and said, “Oh. That is so sweet. Little Vivie looks so happy and so do you Aunt Ro. It looks like love”. : ) Then she went over to her mom and hugged her and said, “I love you mommy”. True story. Out of the mouth of babes.

It is too bad that apparently some here think that breastfeeding a baby is something to hide or even be ashamed of instead of like what little Helen saw it for; “It looks like love”.

Thank you for sharing that lovely story, MD Expat in PA, and for the beautiful picture you shared Mrs. Don-o. I was going to upload a picture of my gorgeous daughter breastfeeding my grandson, or my grandson in his knitted breast hat that says, “Milk Addict” but I don’t have them uploaded to a photo account so I couldn’t.
95% of the mamas at our church breastfeed, and they have lots of children, so there are babies being breastfed all the time. Some use cover-ups, some don’t. It is part of our culture, and I appreciate that our sons are raised with the breast symbolizing loving and nurturing a child, not something sexualized to oogle at. When you have children in the home from 20 to newborn, your sons (and daughters) grow up seeing breasts everyday. They understand that breastfeeding is not sexual, but instead a symbol of a mam’s love for her child.