07-02-2012

Afternoon tea and a good book.

Because I couldn't make it to Sydney for the boob out in front of Facebook today...
Breastfeeding =/= sexual, explicit, obscene, etc., it is normal, it is ordinary, it is lunch. And it is important to see.

13-01-2012

Madre y bebé.
After Picasso.
Neither good, nor accurate, but it is done, and after starting and discarding three other hopeless drawings today, that is all I ask!

Discretion is the better part of what now?

Rant time. You have been warned.
Prompted by a comment on this photo (via Emma Kwasnica).

"Sex sells..but motherhood and breastfeeding in public is embarrassing to the bystander ? Woman should not flaunt it but just be discreet about it and all should be okay !"

So I ask, what shall I do to be discreet?

Seriously now. What would your definition be?


If I am at a restaurant, and my newborn needs to nurse ahead of schedual, how would I go about fulfilling their needs without offending you?


Many people would not notice if a simply raised my singlet, lowered my shirt and nursed. The only part of my body exposed would rather rapidly be in my child's mouth. Would this be acceptable?

all of that oh so offensive... Oh wait...

No? A blanket perhaps? My baby sweats profusely when under a blanket. It is clearly not comfortable for her, but I could settle for a light muslin wrap I suppose, if your comfort is to be more important than my child's...

or I could invest in this charming shower curtain...

Still not good enough for some. A move to the toilet is in order. But wait, is that hygeinic? Why should my infant have to eat her lunch in a toilet if nobody else does?

even if it is a really expensive toilet...

The car you say. Thats fine... In winter (for me anyway... Thank you Australia). In summer it is really not. But hey, the car has windows on all sides, what am I an exhibitionist or something?

yeah, this? Not safe.

I should just go home, and sit in a bedroom until my child weans... You know, so that I can be discreet to everyone's liking.

well Miranda Kerr does make it look appealing...

Or, I can nurse my child, and the people who don't like it can look away? Nah, that doesn't sound right, does it?

Celebrating 18 months.

My darling girl. What a beautiful journey we have shared, and continue to.
Mummy loves you my little darling.
Here is a brief look at our breastfeeding journey, and some of my favourite captured moments of the last 18 months.
I hope you like it.

Screw you Facebook Fratboys!

This is what I emailed to a large local newspaper.
I doubt it will be published, but this is what I came up with while NAK before my little darling went down.

Letter to the Editor,

Facebook censors- Lactophobic.

‘The Leaky B@@b is a blog’, and until recently, a Facebook group which provides support for women -so called ‘Leakies’- with breastfeeding and raising babies. The Facebook group has been a sounding board for countless women, and, like several other Facebook groups, can help mothers having problems breastfeeding by facilitating sometimes instantaneous advice from other breastfeeding mothers all over the planet.

Facebook deleted TLB for violating their Terms Of Use. Within 24 hours a Facebook group ‘Bring back The Leaky Boob’ cropped up and had over 6,000 ‘likers’. Low and behold The Leaky B@@b group was reinstated, along with a standard apology from Facebook.

Now, in a farcical turn, Facebook has yet again deleted ‘The Leaky B@@b’, along with ‘Bring back The leaky Boob’ without cause.

Which brings us back to Terms of Use violations:

“Among other things, Pages that are hateful, threatening, or obscene are not allowed”.
Obscene. What a slippery, subjective little word. One which appears to be covering up all manner of sins.

Many women have had breastfeeding images deemed obscene by Facebook, and deleted. The official stance being that Facebook does not allow images of nipples. It seems, however, that images depicting breastfeeding are being specifically, and repeatedly targeted, even without visible nipple, whilst other images of exposed nipples, especially men’s nipples, are left unmolested.

Is Facebook encouraging misogyny? When did nipples become so ‘offensive’ anyway, particularly in the context of feeding our young? Isn’t that what they are there for, and why we are mammals?

‘Bring back the Leaky Boob- again’ has over 1,500 ‘likers’ and the number is rising.

I eagerly await Facebook’s next backflip.

Seriously? I can't believe what a pack of @$$holes they are.

2.30am? How did that happen? Must be time for bed.

Musings...

I'm thinking I should return to work.

It's been almost a year since I was last gainfully employed.
Unless you can count producing and caring for a baby as employment...
Which I actually do.

However I'm definately feeling the lack of the folding green stuff that comes with paid employment.
Which coincidentally, where I'm from, neither folds, nor is green (unless its a far larger note than I usually carry in my wallet).

The hard part, apart from finding work that will willingly accomodate a breastfeeding mother in an uncertain economic climate, is figuring out what exactly I want to, and am willing to do.

Which is the subject of my increasingly scattered thoughts.
At this point I'm open to any and all suggestions.

I think I might ignore my financial situation for the moment, and try again to get my little miss to go to sleep, without dragging me off to the land of nod with her.

Work is so much easier.