The Boob Battle

I'm a big believer in Breast is Best and as I nurse child number two my resolve is even stronger to keep it up. As I did on child number one over 11 years ago, I will self-wean my daughter, allowing her to decide when she is ready to retire the boob.

My son was finished when he was tall enough to play in what he called the "big boy place" in Woody Woodchucks, a play place for kids near our then Mississauga home. He came home from a birthday party that was held there for an older friend of his and broke it to me as gentle as he could. "Mom, no more nummies. I'm a big boy, see?" he said, standing tall and proud before my astonished eyes. Where had the time gone? My "baby," was almost four. Yes, you heard me, four, and up to that point he was still occasionally breast feeding.

My husband and I just had our daughter for her six month needle and had her growth checked. She is, like our son was before her, off the chart in height, weight and the milestones she has accomplished far exceeds her age. Well, there was one we can't quite say she has reached; rolling, since she has only done it once and shows no signs of ever wanting to do it again, but she sits perfectly on her own and already has a sense of "gone," and "where is it," so that, among other things, places her far ahead for her age despite the rolling thing.

So, I consider this my personal ammo for the breast is best position. I also feel I should be able to nurse my child anywhere and have had my boobs out in church, in Wal-Mart and in grocery stores in my area. If my daughter is hungry or cross, or just needs a little milk and comfort so I can finish my errands, I break "it" out wherever I happen to be.

The very natural act of breast feeding is not obscene, which is why I was shocked to hear about the latest developments happening on my favorite social networking site, Facebook.

With notes from an article I read from The Toronto Star;

Facebook has been receiving an online scolding after the social networking site deleted pictures of nursing babies. It considered the pictures "obscene" and closed at least one Canadian mothers account for good.

Breastfeeding activists are emailing, posting and instant messaging their outrage. A new Facebook group set up to petition for a change in site policy – called "Hey Facebook, breastfeeding is not obscene!" – has swelled from 7,000 members to more than 172,500. The picture that did this mother is was one of her "tandem breastfeeding" her two youngest sons. Her breasts were not visible in the picture. Now, there are still many pictures of breastfeeding mothers throughout Facebook in groups like La Leche League, Canadian Breastfeeding Mommies and particularly this new "Hey Facebook" petition site, so why would a personal photo be considered obscene?

The Star reported that a Facebook spokesperson said Facebook did not prevent mothers from uploading photos of themselves breastfeeding their babies, but instead removed content that was reported as violating Facebook's terms of use.

"Photos containing an exposed breast do violate our terms and are removed," Chin said, according to another recent report in The Sydney Morning Herald.

So, as my six month old daughter celebrates her latest milestones (67.5 in length, 23.5 pounds among her many mental and physical accomplishments) I might need to celebrate and commemorate the event with a snapshot, one posted proudly for all to see on my Facebook site.