‘Women can breastfeed anywhere’
It still bothers Dr. Andrea Feller, nine years later.
Niagara’s associate medical officer of health was at a restaurant, with a hungry baby boy that needed to be breastfed.
“I was told, ‘Yes, I guess you can do that, but you have to use a toilet stall,’” Feller recalled.
“I still have feelings about that, nine years later.”
But the experience clearly demonstrated the negative perceptions about breastfeeding in society.
It’s a perception that needs to be changed.
“Women can breastfeed anywhere, anytime,” Feller told nearly a hundred mothers participating in the annual breastfeeding challenge at the Pen Centre on Saturday.
One of the participants, Magdalena Dobosiewicz, recalled attracting some unwanted attention from strangers while breastfeeding her two-month-old daughter, Amelia Dobosiewicz-Gemmill.
“Just recently I was in Peggy’s Cove, N.S., and I was feeding my baby in a car in the backseat,” she said, referring to the coastal town of about 640 people.
People walking by commented on what she was doing with “just a little bit of a strange tone” in their voices, as if to say: “How weird is that?”
“I was like, ‘Yes, I am breastfeeding my kid. Of course I am,’” Dobosiewicz proudly proclaimed.
There was no need to hide in a bathroom stall to do what comes naturally for the 97 women who participated in the 11th challenge at the shopping centre, organized by Breastfeeding Niagara and Niagara Region Public Health.
Karen Seliske, a public health nurse and one of the event organizers, said the event — part of an international imitative — is designed to promote awareness and acceptance of breastfeeding as a normal part of life.
“Last year, over 4,000 babies participated in six different countries,” Seliske said.
After more than a decade of holding the event in Niagara, the message seems to be sinking in.
Chantelle Kurzawa, who was at the event with her five-month-old son Carter, said she hasn’t had any negative experiences while breastfeeding.
“I have a two-year-old daughter who I breastfed until she was 19 months, and I never had any issues,” she said.
“I think we’ve come a long way.”
Although participation in this year’s event didn’t break the record of 114 mothers set during the 2015 challenge, it was a significant improvement over last year’s total of 87.
It’s a far cry from the first challenge in 2006. Only 11 women took part that year.