Professor breast feeds in class.

[JBean]

I was a professional with young babies at one time and I really felt that pressure to not miss my appointments and meetings because of my kids. Even though those in authority were more than understanding- I felt like I had to be there for what I was hired for and I felt an even stronger need to be there for my kids.

It was a lot of pressure to do it all and do it well. I remember having to bring my sick little ones to my office and having them sleep under my desk. Appropriate? Probably not. Newsworthy? Definitely not.

I stayed home with them from work plenty- but couldn't do it and perform the position I was being paid for all the time.These decisions were made on the fly and the risk of being fired due to absenteeism was real. Losing my job meant not being able to put food on the table. Making sure my job was secure was one way of putting my kids first. Talk about Catch-22.

 

[Sheromom]

I'm just not understanding all the uproar about this? I nursed all four of my kids....until they self weaned! One took four years! I always nursed discreetly....as I believe she did. I would have kept my baby close and IF she allowed the baby crawling privileges....I do have an issue with that. Sick babies should live on the breast. If work allows it. Mine never have but given the chance,.....yea, that baby would be with me. Just LOOK at the movies out making men desire breasts.....I think THAT is the issue for many? Breasts were made to feed our kids. Get over it men and WAY get over it women hating women for their husband's responses!!!! A sick baby in class? They also exist at K-Mart and Wal-Mart and everywhere we go!!!! Safeway?

 

[gngr~snap]

Breasts are God's "bottles" and meant to nourish the babies the species creates!
MAN made them "sexual" hello??? they are an organ.. IMO that LACTATES!
I breastfed my 1# 13 oz preemie and my 6 # 8 oz full term baby!

If "breastfeeding" is so UNnatural then humans must "bottlefeed" all mammals !
Puppies, kittens, mice... yeah right.... that'll happen

When will it be rude to menstruate in public (when covered up?)

puh leeze!!!
moo

 

[FrayedKnot]

I don't think the solution is bringing baby to the workplace. As for men, they aren't able to get pregnant, so there are a lot more single mothers than there are single fathers.

If men were able to get pregnant, this would be a non-issue.

Men would probably have milk-squirting fights!

 

[cityslick]

I'm just not understanding all the uproar about this? I nursed all four of my kids....until they self weaned! One took four years! I always nursed discreetly....as I believe she did. I would have kept my baby close and IF she allowed the baby crawling privileges....I do have an issue with that. Sick babies should live on the breast. If work allows it. Mine never have but given the chance,.....yea, that baby would be with me. Just LOOK at the movies out making men desire breasts.....I think THAT is the issue for many? Breasts were made to feed our kids. Get over it men and WAY get over it women hating women for their husband's responses!!!! A sick baby in class? They also exist at K-Mart and Wal-Mart and everywhere we go!!!! Safeway?

BBM

What I bolded is the ultimate argument, as those who have a problem with this do not consider breastfeeding while your in the middle of teaching a college class as 'discreet'.

As far as why breasts are considered 'private parts', maybe some of that has to do with the fact that most women themselves are their own worst judge of themselves and would rather have them covered/held up up in a bra than exposed for all the world to see. Let's not put it all on men, there are plenty of women in this world who consider their breasts sex objects as well.

 

[Nova]

I presume the parent can sit in quietly and not be a source of any distractions. So it's hardly the same thing to allow a parent to sit in on the class.

You're absolutely right, jenny, as I believe I stated in my post. The only point of comparison is that sometimes the wiser course is to change procedures when unusual circumstances require an adaptation.

(But for the record, I had no way of knowing whether a parent might be disruptive or not. I simply trusted that I could handle any disruption that arose. And I trusted my students to behave like adults and adapt with me.)

 

[Nova]

I'm sorry but I'm on the side of the college here. These people are paying a crazy amount of money for their education, and it is NOT ok that she brought her kid to school. My aunt was a single parent who worked two jobs, she NEVER took her kids to work with her, nobody else in any profession would be able to do this. It's not about breastfeeding to me, but about the fact she feels it is ok to bring her kid with her. I would say this if it were a man as well, so it is not gender bias, but stupid bias.

As far as what I've read, the college supports the professor. It was the student newspaper that wanted to do an article; since the article was quashed by the editors, we have no idea whether or not it would have been supportive.

The questions asked by the reporter were not, IMO, hostile.

 

[Nova]

May I just say for the record that I am a gay man. None of my siblings, cousins or myself were breastfed (we were the bottle/formula generation) and my stepchildren were beyond the age of nursing by the time I met them.

My stepdaughter on occasion nursed the grandkids in front of me and I have had friends and co-workers who did the same.

But my experience with breastfeeding is necessarily limited.

So if *I* don't find this professor's action a big deal, why are others up in arms about it? I really don't get it.

 

[Trident]

I was a professional with young babies at one time and I really felt that pressure to not miss my appointments and meetings because of my kids. Even though those in authority were more than understanding- I felt like I had to be there for what I was hired for and I felt an even stronger need to be there for my kids.

It was a lot of pressure to do it all and do it well. I remember having to bring my sick little ones to my office and having them sleep under my desk. Appropriate? Probably not. Newsworthy? Definitely not.

I stayed home with them from work plenty- but couldn't do it and perform the position I was being paid for all the time.These decisions were made on the fly and the risk of being fired due to absenteeism was real. Losing my job meant not being able to put food on the table. Making sure my job was secure was one way of putting my kids first. Talk about Catch-22.

Been there, done that. I used to take my daughter with me when I was driving a dump truck 8 hours a day. She actually slept in the passenger's seat while this old truck was bouncing and jouncing. How she did it I'll never know. I wasn't the only to take my kid in the truck, some had young 'uns, and one guys had a baby in a car seat. You gotta do/or had to do what has to be done in order to feed the children.

 

[Nova]

But... if the professor had to feed the child at daycare, I'm assuming she would've pumped out her breast milk and the baby would have been bottle-fed breast milk, so why didn't she do this for the class, and then the baby still would have gotten breast milk without disrupting the class by breast feeding???

It's a good question and I don't know the answer, Linas.

 

[Nova]

you know this is the heart of the matter imo. If she was fighting for her right to do this at every class or many classes I can see opposition. She punted. Good choice? bad choice? I don't know . Maybe she just felt like she owed it to her class and her child to be there in person for all of them and this was the best solution at the time. She had made commitments to all and was trying to honor them. I think it would have been nice if the students were forgiving and understanding that she had her back against the wall and just did what she felt was the best for everybody.

This stuff doesn't excite me-chit happens- we have to roll with it and so it goes. I don't see this as a landmark case or something that is going to set a precedent for professors and students everywhere!
The publicity amazes me more than anything.

I am NOT addressing the following to anyone in this thread.

But I think we're in the midst of a mini-war on women and their sexuality, pushed largely by religious fanatics and their allies in the GOP. This story is perfect fodder for those who are uncomfortable with reproduction and female anatomy.

(Again, this is NOT an argument against those who have criticized the professor here. I think everyone has discussed this issue quite reasonably.)

 

[Nova]

So this teacher brings in her sick child (like the child wouldnt have been happier at home) to spread the illness arround the the whole class ,making me miss my classes I paid for so she doesnt use a sick day, vacation day or lose a day of pay . I dont get to bring my sick kid to class, and courts dont even allow children in the courtroom due to the distraction.

I think they were trying to get more interest in breast feeding by making this issue about that but really it is all about the germs this woman is spreading using her child as a bio weapon agaist our young students and distracting them with her boobies so they dont realize it!

That's not how germs are spread. They are spread largely by physical contact, not through the air. Unless the students handled the baby and then failed to wash their hands, they were probably not at risk. (ETA or to look at it another way, the students were probably at greater risk from the syllabi I assume the prof distributed than they were from the baby. The prof handled her child and then distributed papers. Students were more likely to get germs from those papers than from an infant they never touched.)

The reason that sick children are often barred from daycare centers is because there is no way to keep a sick child from touching others or to keep those exposed from touching their own eyes, noses and mouths.

 

[jjenny]

It's a good question and I don't know the answer, Linas.

If the child was at the child care facility she obviously wouldn't be able to breast feed during her lecture.

 

[jjenny]

That's not how germs are spread. They are spread largely by physical contact, not through the air. Unless the students handled the baby and then failed to wash their hands, they were probably not at risk.

The reason that sick children are often barred from daycare centers is because there is no way to keep a sick child from touching others or to keep those exposed from touching their own eyes, noses and mouths.

The airborne diseases are spread by air. Microbes can be simply inhaled to spread the disease.

"Airborne diseases are caused by pathogenic microbes small enough to be discharged from an infected person via coughing, sneezing, laughing and close personal contact or aerosolization of the microbe. The discharged microbes remain suspended in the air on dust particles, respiratory and water droplets. Illness is caused when the microbe is inhaled or contacts mucus membranes or when secretions remaining on a surface are touched."
http://www.maine.gov/dhhs/mecdc/infectious-disease/epi/airborne/index.shtml

 

[Nova]

If the child was at the child care facility she obviously wouldn't be able to breast feed during her lecture.

That's true, but I don't understand the point. My understanding is that the facility wasn't an option because the child was ill. A lot of child-care facilities have such a policy for reasons I mentioned above.

LinasK's question was why didn't she pump and use a bottle in class? The possible answers, IMO, are:

(a) she didn't expect to have to feed the child during class;

(b) since she brought her breasts and the baby with her, it didn't occur to her to pump (the whole thing seems to have been a last-minute decision);

(c) she was making some sort of political statement (but this seems unlikely considering the lengths to which she went to kill the story).

 

[Nova]

The airborne diseases are spread by air. Microbes can be simply inhaled to spread the disease.

"Airborne diseases are caused by pathogenic microbes small enough to be discharged from an infected person via coughing, sneezing, laughing and close personal contact or aerosolization of the microbe. The discharged microbes remain suspended in the air on dust particles, respiratory and water droplets. Illness is caused when the microbe is inhaled or contacts mucus membranes or when secretions remaining on a surface are touched."
http://www.maine.gov/dhhs/mecdc/infectious-disease/epi/airborne/index.shtml

BBM: I think you'll find the highlighted phrase is the most common method of contagion. Obviously, there are exceptions such as SARS (I think), but I doubt the baby had anything but the common cold or flu.

 

[JBean]

Pumped breast milk is precious!!! I would never use it if the breast was available.