Poet Hollie McNish Makes Poetic Plea For Public Breastfeeding And It’s Amazing

This is beyond gorgeous. I think that whether you bottle or breastfeed, most moms can agree that nothing sucks worse than the idea of having to feed your baby in a disgusting bathroom stall and poet Hollie McNish feels the same way. Not only is feeding your baby in a bathroom gross, but the idea that advertisers and magazines see nothing wrong with subjecting us to boobs, boobs, cleavage, boobs and women’s breasts on a near-constant basis, but as soon as a woman feeds her baby with one it is seen as indecent or scandalous.
[youtube_iframe id=”KiS8q_fifa0″]

Hollie wrote this on the YouTube description:

I wrote this poem in a public toilet after my 6 month old baby fell asleep. I was in town on my own a lot with her and the first time I fed her someone commented that I should stay home. Baby’s need breastfed every 2-3 hours often. It’s impossible to run home. It’s a stupid argument anyway. But I was embarrassed and for 6 months took her into toilets when I was alone without the support of boyfriend, friends, mum etc. I hate that I did that but I was nervous, tired and felt awkward. And now I find it weird that our TVs, media etc never show breastfeeding in soaps, cartoons, anything. That we and the US are so bloody scared of it. It’s weird. I find our culture weird and even weirder, when people are so strapped for cash. It is costing parents a huge amount of money paying for something which most of us, those of us who are lucky enough for our bodies to do so, get for free. I have a lot of mates who complain they’re broke but stop breastfeeding cos they feel awkward, and pay for formula. Why are we paying billionaire companies for something our bodies produce for FREE. It’s really good marketing that we feel so wrong doing something like this I think. And it makes me sadder every day. Next we’ll be buying sweat in bottles from Tescos and rubbing it on our skin paying for electronic books to read nighttime stories. Oh, wait…

 

I love this poem, and I love how adamant Hollie is in her support of public breastfeeding. I know when I was nursing my kids I spent a lot of time feeding them in my car when I was out in public because I didn’t feel like dealing with people looking at me or being made to feel awkward for doing something totally normal like feeding my baby. I could never bring myself to do it in a bathroom but I know I left many places in order to breastfeed. This type of feeling needs to stop. I hope Hollie’s beautiful poem gives moms the courage to continue feeding their babies in public, and makes people stop making moms feel bad for doing so.

(Image: You Tube)