Breastfeeding In The Church

[annsni]

At my inlaw's church, they have a room behind the auditorium with one-way glass. The BF mom's can go sit in a rocker and BF while they watch/listen to the service.

Can't imagine a godly woman who has no qualms about bearing her breasts in public. My wife is currently BF our son and she is very discreet. She's never BF in the auditorium but goes to the nursery to do it.

But discreet breastfeeding is not "bearing breasts in public". I've never bared my breasts anywhere but in my own bedroom. When nursing, they were covered with a shirt, a blanket, a baby, etc.

For Pastor Larry - I had children who nursed frequently. It wasn't until my last child that I could go for longer than 2 hours without nursing. My son nursed every hour to hour and a half and there's no way I could have gone through a service without nursing. Our services are typically close to 2 hours long.

 

[annsni]

If you have to hide any activity under a blanket while in public that should tell you something. And it has not always been common practice to BF in public. It is a recent phenomenon.

It's certainly been common practice to BF in public. My grandmother, who was born in 1910 said everyone just breastfed their babies when they needed to. I've seen pictures from around the turn of the century of women breastfeeding out in open air public.

The only reason I covered up was because of people's possible "offense". However, I didn't ever cover up at home or when I was around other women - and yet none of them still saw any breast. It just didn't happen - and yes, I asked them.

 

[Spinach]

I'm with Ann.

An above poster said that he's never seen a godly woman bare her breasts to feed her baby. I'll add that I've never seen an ungodly woman bare her breasts to feed her baby.

 

[annsni]

I wonder how easy it was for Mary to breastfeed Jesus without benefit of nursing clothes. I'm sure she had to uncover more than the bare minimum in order to feed the Son of God. And it's not like they had convenient nursing rooms in the synagogue or in the home. Homes didn't have lots of space to go to feed your baby "discreetly".

 

[Spinach]

And it's an art that I pass on to other moms. Encouraging them to practice discreet nursing at home then nursing around other moms will give them the skill and courage to nurse anywhere.

As I've said, there's no place I haven't nursed.

This goes for me as well, though over here, not many people don't nurse. In our group of missionaries, none bottle-fed. It's not taboo here.

 

[swaimj]

But discreet breastfeeding is not "bearing breasts in public".

That was my point. I said my wife, who has nursed in public, is discreet. She nurses in public but does not bare her breasts in public.

 

[Jim1999]

We don't know much about the first 12 years of Jesus' life, so we don't have a definitive answer. I believe she followed the norm of that society.

As the song goes, "Things are different now......" We have facilities and means for modesty, and we ought to use them, in my opinion.

Cheers,

Jim

 

[donnA]

I hate to admit it, but as a man I have the same issues with lust as the next guy, but for the life of me can't see breastfeeding in that light.

I've heard of men who had a thing for something like this, some fantasy thing I wouldn't understand. But for some it means something se*ual. In reality, if this true, then it is tempting men to lust.

I'll add that I've never seen an ungodly woman bare her breasts to feed her baby.

You've never sene a nonchristian breast feed? unusual isn't it.
I've never seen a christian expose herself in church either.

 

[annsni]

Well, let's put it this way - I saw the large billboard in NYC with the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition cover photo. I can promise you that IF you happened to see any skin at all when I nursed, you'd see a lot less than that.

But it's OK to see something like that in public.

Yet it's not OK to discreetly feed your child in the manner that they are to be fed to keep them as healthy as possible and the way God created us to do so.

I think there's something very wrong here.

 

[swaimj]

But it's OK to see something like that in public.

No it is not OK to see something like that in public. It is sin for it to be there and it is sin to gaze upon it.

 

[Revmitchell]

It's certainly been common practice to BF in public. My grandmother, who was born in 1910 said everyone just breastfed their babies when they needed to. I've seen pictures from around the turn of the century of women breastfeeding out in open air public.

The only reason I covered up was because of people's possible "offense". However, I didn't ever cover up at home or when I was around other women - and yet none of them still saw any breast. It just didn't happen - and yes, I asked them.

According to my mother it was never common practice. While some would feed while out in public it wasn't a bold in your face affair. They worked to find a corner or another room. The current feminist boldness began in the 60's with the exacerbation of the feminist movement. Even then it was much less common than now. And it is far less common in the south. Modesty still has a place down here.

 

[Spinach]

I've heard of men who had a thing for something like this, some fantasy thing I wouldn't understand. But for some it means something se*ual. In reality, if this true, then it is tempting men to lust.


You've never sene a nonchristian breast feed? unusual isn't it.
I've never seen a christian expose herself in church either.

I've seen nonchristians breastfeed, but I've never seen their bare breasts. That's what I was trying to say.

I've also never seen a woman expose herself in church, yet I've seen LOTS of women breastfeeding.

 

[Spinach]

According to my mother it was never common practice. While some would feed while out in public it wasn't a bold in your face affair. They worked to find a corner or another room. The current feminist boldness began in the 60's with the exacerbation of the feminist movement. Even then it was much less common than now. And it is far less common in the south. Modesty still has a place down here.

What exactly is immodest about breastfeeding? The fact that it involves a breast?

I can honestly say that I showed as much skin while breastfeeding as I did using a bottle---and one was God-given and one wasn't.

 

[abcgrad94]

Not to be rude, and I sincerely hope you understand that, but how long were your services? I can't imagine that out of a full day even with six or eight feeding that an hour or hour and a half service is the only time that a baby can eat. That strikes me as odd.

It seems to me to be unnecessary and sufficiently questionable to avoid it particularly when there are better options.

When my youngest was born, we had to be at church at 8 a.m. for orchestra practice. Sunday school immediately followed, then church. We didn't get home until about 1 or 1:30 p.m. I had to nurse baby sometime on Sunday's, even if I fed her before we left the house.

I'm not sure what you mean by "better options." I certainly wouldn't feed my kids in the bathroom and the nursery was full of parents--both men and women coming and going with their children. It was less private than the sanctuary! Sometimes married couples worked in the nursery together. Classrooms were full of children and the hallways were also public. I guess one could nurse in the car, but my girls were born in the winter.

So, moms are doomed if they do, doomed if they don't. If we stay home until our kids are weaned, I guess we'll get judged for "forsaking the assembling together" and if we come, we'll get judged for nursing our babies. If you feed your kids the old fashioned way, you are "innappropriate" or "immodest" and if you feed them a bottle, you're not giving them the best nutrition. Yep. Doomed if we do, doomed if we don't.

 

[annsni]

According to my mother it was never common practice. While some would feed while out in public it wasn't a bold in your face affair. They worked to find a corner or another room. The current feminist boldness began in the 60's with the exacerbation of the feminist movement. Even then it was much less common than now. And it is far less common in the south. Modesty still has a place down here.

I'm not sure how old your mother is (my own mother's age-group did NOT breastfeed) but with the advent of commercial formula, it became less common to breastfeed because it was considered inferior to the wonderful formula. But before formula really became readily available, breastfeeding was pretty much the only way to feed a child - and breastfeeding wherever it needed to be was the norm.

 

[abcgrad94]

I'm not sure how old your mother is (my own mother's age-group did NOT breastfeed) but with the advent of commercial formula, it became less common to breastfeed because it was considered inferior to the wonderful formula. But before formula really became readily available, breastfeeding was pretty much the only way to feed a child - and breastfeeding wherever it needed to be was the norm.

There's actually a famous photograph taken during the depression of a migrant woman sitting near her tent, breastfeeding her baby. There's nothing immodest in the picture, but you can tell her shirt is unbuttoned and the baby is nursing while she gazes at the camera. I'd say nursing must have been commonplace at least in the 1930's for a woman to allow a picture to be taken that way.

 

[chuck2336]

When my wife was BF she would simply go to an office or nursery to it. It was never an issue with me, that is just what she did.

 

[Pastor Larry]

I'm not sure what you mean by "better options."

Private places. A church should provide a private place for it, IMO. A room where a mom can go and feed the baby, burp her (the baby ), and have some quiet and privacy and still listen to the service.

So, moms are doomed if they do, doomed if they don't.

You didn't get this from me. I am in favor of breastfeeding. Why buy milk when you can get it for free, right?? ... I am also in favor of a lot of other things that I don't think need to be done in certain places either. But for me, it is not a big deal. If a lady asked me what she should do, I would tell her that we have a place set aside for her where she can go and be comfortable if she would like to use it. If a lady breastfeeds in the service, I won't say anything about it.

 

[Spinach]

I like your attitude on the subject, Pastor Larry.

 

[Revmitchell]

I'm not sure how old your mother is (my own mother's age-group did NOT breastfeed) but with the advent of commercial formula, it became less common to breastfeed because it was considered inferior to the wonderful formula. But before formula really became readily available, breastfeeding was pretty much the only way to feed a child - and breastfeeding wherever it needed to be was the norm.

She is in her 70's certainly old enough to know. The 60's flower children and feminists has worked hard to ingrain this right and to reframe history to make it appear that it was a "let me flop this thing out where ever I like" event. Truth is modesty had higher value in times past. The fact that a child needs to eat does not diminish the need for modesty contrary to feminist assertions.