The power of the blog

I went to a baby group today.  A popular one that is attended equally by men and women.  Midway through I left with the kiddies to take them out into the cafe for a snack.  We were alone in there and baby was squarking, so as my son ate his food I latched my daughter on.  A few mums came in and I didn't bother covering up.  Then a dad came in.  I considered reaching for the cloth in front of me.  Then I remembered my musings in a previous blog concerning feeding in front of men.  Why cover up?  I hadn't covered up for the women and you couldn't see anything anyway. 

The man walked right by me and sat down at the next table.  The slight tenseness I felt dissipated.  If he didn't care then I didn't care.  In fact I almost felt a solidarity from the fact he'd sat so near.  Some may question me, but to me breastfeeding isn't a sexual thing, sex doesn't come into it.  So, if I am not showing any flesh I wouldn't happily show in a bikini then why should I cover up.  What am I covering anyway, a bit of shoulder and cleavage?  Pointless.

So, here is the power of the blog.  I am referring to its power to me, not to my readers.  I don't think I would have remained uncovered like this before I started writing this blog.  But, putting your thoughts in black and white helps you to understand what you really think about something.  What I think is that breastfeeding should be completely normal and everyday.  So why do I continue to cover up?  Small steps of course.  As my blog has shown there are still places I would be uncomfortable to openly breastfeed.  But I like to think that my emancipation may have some tiny knock on effect.  Even if it is just that I am seen by one person who then feels a tiny bit more comfortable feeding in public.