This Mom Will Darn Well Breastfeed in Costco if Her Kid Is Hungry
Every nursing mother knows that hungry babies doesn't care where they are when they want to nurse. They want the boobs and they want them now! Although some mothers are shy about nursing in public, one Canadian mom wasn't one of them!
It doesn't matter where Trinati and her 17-month-old daughter are — this mother will feed her daughter wherever and whenever she's hungry. That means this mom of two breastfeeds in public frequently, and although she has had mostly positive experiences, that doesn't mean she hasn't gotten looks at restaurants. She's even been ushered into a broom closet because a store employee thought that she'd be "more comfortable" nursing there instead.
Understandably that wasn't the case, so to help raise awareness for breastfeeding mamas, Trinati recently had her son snap a photo of her confidently multitasking at Costco. "I never shy away from providing my children with what they may need from me based on our surroundings," Trinati tells CafeMom.
Yet, she's often met with the same question even from friends and family: "How long are you going to do 'that' for?" Despite her typical answer of "As long as she needs me to!" there's usually a passive-aggressive follow-up question or joke about breastfeeding until kindergarten.
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At this point in her nursing journey, Trinati is fed up with people who sexualize breastfeeding and then judge her for it.
"Really? Have you SEEN breastfeeding breasts? My nipples are very far from looking like something someone may fantasize about! Ha!" she tells us.
"These are basically udders right now. Get over yourself! I'm not trying to steal your man or lady with these bad girls! To me, they have become so far from feeling like a sexual part of my body. Right now they belong to my child for nourishment, both physically and emotionally."
Trinati is fine with people not completely understanding the breastfeeding experience, but she wants to raise awareness so folks learn to respect it even if they can't relate.
"I don't expect all men or those who have never breastfed to understand the ways in which mothers have the endurance to deal with nipple-pinching or straight-up acrobatics while breastfeeding," she explains. "I have received the strangest glances and awkward giggles when people watch my 1.5-year-old standing on my lap while suckling ... sometimes on one leg!"
In order to help normalize breastfeeding in public as well as to teach her children an important lesson, Trinati had her older child capture her nursing her daughter while grocery shopping.
"I had my son take that photo of us in Costco because I never want to forget (and [I want to] show my daughter in the future) the lengths we, as mothers, will go to when ensuring our kids are well looked after no matter the situation," she shares.
She explains that she hopes her kids learn to care for themselves and others the way that she cares for them right now, with passion and compassion.
"My baby's needs come waaaaaay before anyone else's attempts to make me feel inappropriate for this sometimes-public act of nourishing and/or comforting my children," she captioned the photo on Instagram.
As a mother, Trinati believes it's her job to equip her children with the understanding that her main priority is meeting their needs and that she won't let others deter her from raising them the way she sees fit.
"Trust is a fundamental tool for developing healthy relationships and it begins with the care that we receive in childhood," she says. "For me, breastfeeding demonstrates this to my children, and for this reason I will never feel shame for allowing a baby of mine to do this with me in any environment."
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