Breastfeeding in the Park

Charlie, rooting around for the good stuff

Hi Cuties,
How do you all feel about breastfeeding in public?  I have to admit, before having a baby, I didn't really have much of an opinion one way or another.  But after the, er, struggle the babe and I faced together the past three months, the thought of any outrage against public breastfeeding makes me very ANGRY.  Until you have an inconsolable, screaming infant, thrashing around in your arms, mouth open, frantically rooting in all directions for food, you can't really understand the urgency of the need to feed.  Until you can only leave your home base for two hours at a time lest your child completely melts down from hunger or your breasts start leaking copiously through your clothing, your opinion isn't worth much as far as I'm concerned.  Now, while I may support public breastfeeding, I do everything in my power to avoid it at all costs.  Maybe I don't have the coordination for it, but I haven't exactly mastered the art of the discreet feeding.  In fact, within the confines of our own apartment, it was pretty much a 24 hour peep show for the first two months.  And, no, there was nothing sexy about it, I promise.
Yesterday we took our peep show to the park.  It was a really nice day so Charlie and I went for a long walk (far away from home base if you catch my drift).  He had been sleeping most of the day and when we entered the park I noticed a woman sitting on a bench with her daughter out of the stroller playing on her lap, the two of them enjoying the warm weather together.  The baby was about Charlie's age.  "How nice, " I thought.  "I'll take my baby out of his stroller TOO so he can wake up a bit and we can can enjoy the park together just like those two."  "Why not?  Why shouldn't we just enjoy the day too?" I thought.  HA.  Apparently, I forgot the fact that Charlie has been, as we affectionately call him, a crankypants, the entire week.  Charlie was not so happy to be out in the fresh air.  In fact, he really really wanted to be back in his favorite position, doing his favorite thing, eating.  As soon as I picked him up he launched into a full throttle freakout and there was really only one cure.  So we sat on a bench in a deserted corner of the park and I fed him as discreetly as I was able.  Easy, no problem,  no big deal, right?  Oh, except for the random full fledged handkerchief-on-a-stick HOBO that happened to wander by.  I can only assume that my breastfeeding moment was a feast for his eyes based on the huge hungry smile he leered in our direction before proceeding to circle back around our area three times.   I mean, a hobo? Really?  As Charlie and I left the park after his impromptu feeding, I noticed the woman and her baby were still sitting on the bench playing happily.  How awesome for them!
You'll be pleased to know that I'll be packing all "easy access" clothing for Pittsburgh this weekend because there's nothing better than being in a situation where you're forced to whip out a breast in front of your dad and brother (but I'll do it if I have to, who even cares anymore.)  If you had told me that "easy access" would have been the number one requirement for a graduation dress, I never would have believed it, but it looks like we've come full circle (ha, I'm just kidding, calm down.)
xo,
C