When Ashley Kaidel‘s son got hungry, while they were at a restaurant, she did what mother’s do – she fed him. Of course, because she did so with your breasts people start staring. Rather than feel shamed she decided to stare right back. This is when her dining partner took a photo of her, a photo which she posted to Facebook along with a post about normalizing breastfeeding. The statement she made, both within her writing and her photo has gone viral.
…it is exponentially unfair and selfish to ask a mother and baby to exclude themselves from a table or event or gathering because you’re for some reason uncomfortable with how she feeds her child. No person should be isolated and shunned because they’re eating, especially when you yourself are eating while ridiculing how someone else is eating.
Ashley makes sure people understand why she is posting the photo, and why she stood up to the woman by entering a stare down. It is not for attention, it is to help normalize breastfeeding for herself and others.
So again, I don’t post this for attention. I don’t post this because I think everyone should nurse uncovered. I post this to give mamas encouragement. And to encourage others to make breastfeeding mothers feel accepted and supported; not alienated, ridiculed and judged.
Ashley aptly signs the post “a badass breastfeeding (uncovered) mama.” I encourage everyone to read the whole post on Ashley’s Facebook.
