Mom's Talk Q&A: How Do You Feel About Public Breast-Feeding?

Welcome to our latest edition of — a live on-site chat on family-related issues open to local parents of both sexes. Today's topic on public breast-feeding comes from , a 44-year-old Aquebogue resident and single mother of a 4-year-old boy:

"Nursing in public is currently so routine and accepted that to speak out against it has become taboo. Breast-feeding, after all, is natural. How do you feel about women nursing in restaurants, playgrounds, and other public places? Are your feelings dependent on the age of the child? Women routinely nurse children who are up to 2-years-old. Since nursing is natural, does it automatically follow that it should be done in public? Or would you find it preferable that women pump their breast milk, then serve it later in a bottle, before going to certain places? Can an argument be put forth that it is analogous to other natural biological events we either do or don’t engage in public?

And are all local public places equal when it comes to this question?"

Feel free to comment on this subject in the comment boxes below or shout out in the white box located in the upper righthand corner of the home page. Stay tuned for another chat next Wednesday afternoon.