I probably would be a little uncomfortable as well, Strega, but I don't think I would say so as a (formerly?) reputable journalist on a national broadcast. My comfort level just isn't that important in the big picture.

This is the thing for me, too. I know it can be uncomfortable (for reasonable people). I know there are times it has made me uncomfortable, but when I've felt the discomfort, I've also felt the conviction that my discomfort is out of place—not the mother feeding her baby.

I guess I wish someone of BW's stature would think about why it makes her uncomfortable, and then decide not natter about it on TV, because to me, that feeds the beast. My guess is that it is uncomfortable because the breast has been so sexualized in our culture, to the point where it's seemingly more comfortable to look at them in an unnatural state (pumped full of silicone) than to look at them serving a natural purpose. This is not to say I think sexual appreciation of breasts is wrong/bad/odd/unnatural. I think that feeling that odd feeling when they're being used for non-sexual purposes is wrong/bad/odd/unnatural.

I think it's a little weird (although I acknowledge that it's largely true, and even sometimes true for me) that it feels more comfortable to see a baby be fed from a bottle full of formula, than from the mother's breast.

I feel the need to add here, I did not nurse any of my children that long. I had difficulties every time, and the allure of the bottle and sharing the middle of the night feeding was stronger than my seldom-strong will. In other words, I'm not a La Leche League devotee, or a person otherwise committed to breast-only feeding of infants. I just feel badly that we've ended up socialized such that something so normal makes us uncomfortable.

slumbernut

Childless her, so most of those titles go right by me. However, years ago I spotted "The Runaway Bunny" in a store and mentioned it to a friend, who bought it for her nephew (age maybe two). Well, she read it to him. And he carried it to another adult and asked that they read it to him. Seemingly he spent the next couple of days having people read it to him over and over and over ....

even without kids everyone needs to read Dont Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus.

When I worked at the library, I fell in love with the books "The True Story of the Three Little Pigs," "Tuesdays," and "Tacky the Penguin." Tacky is especially fun!

you know what's annoying? when the university offers free software, but no fucking documentation, not even a pdf on the website or something. ugh. can anyone recommend a good Front Page book?

even without kids everyone needs to read Dont Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus.

I heartily agree. The Pigeon Finds A Hot Dog, while a decent sequel, isn't in the same class.

I've just started reading Owen Shel Silverstein poetry before bedtime--which appropo of the BW discussion, includes They Put a Brassier on the Camel.

I never had issues with total strangers watching me nurse. It was acquaintences that made ME uncomfortable. People I sort of knew, but not well, but that I would have to look in the eye again at some point. This, of course, was a total ME thing.

Front Page? shudder ... poor baby.

We put Sharepoint on our web site, so I had to learn enough to run that - the 2002 version. I used the "inside out" book and it helped.

Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus set off some conformist knee jerk reaction in me.

Of course he's not allowed to drive the bus. Please hit him to make him stop trying.