Yay Take Home Chef!

One of our lovely fans on The Normalizing Nursing in Public League (The NNIPL) reported casually seeing breastfeeding on TLC's show Take Home Chef. I rushed right to netflix to check it out. Thanks Shannon!

Season 1 Episode 43 - Eva.

I know, I think so too. :P

The show's premise is that the chef Curtis Stone surprises someone at the supermarket and comes home with them to cook a fabulous family meal. In this episode he finds babywearing* Eva at the market with two of her three children. On the way home the baby begins to cry, and while they make a pit stop off for Curtis to pick up more supplies Eva takes the opportunity to breastfeeding her baby in the parked car. They casually show it in the background as Curtis is getting out of the vehicle. It is subtle, and wonderfully normalizing. The show could have easily shot from a different angle or edited that little scene out - but the left it.

Hip hip hurray for the Take Home Chef! Thank you for having breastfeeding be a part of your show as it is a part of our daily lives and is nothing for the editing room floor.

This made me super happy to see, and just affirms even more one of the ways of exposing breastfeeding I'd like to see on Sesame Street. It doesn't need to be a segment dedicated to talking about breastfeeding, but throw us a bone here Sesame Street.... alternate in nursing and bottle feeding mothers into the backgrounds. Nearly 34,000 petitioners have signed saying they want breastfeeding included in the program, and that number grows daily. Sesame Streets only response is to say that it hasn't fit in with the natural storyline plot. Really... in 25 years there hasn't been one opportunity to showcase or even just having a nursing mother in the background? Pretty weak argument there folks.

P.S. Hey, have you signed the petition yet??

*Eva - please take a lesson in babywearing from  your brother-in-law... "crotch dangling" babywearing can be damaging to your baby's hips. Very easy mistake to make and one I definitely made myself.

The Case Against Breastfeeding on Sesame Street

I keep doing it... reading those COMMENTS on articles and blogs regarding the movement to bring breastfeeding back on Sesame Street. It's almost laughable the ignorance and hate spurting out of these anonymous computer entities. Maybe if they saw breastfeeding on Sesame Street growing up they would know what it is actually about. LOL.

"I don't want Sesame Street teaching my children about sexual education."

Okay... I don't know what goes on in your bedroom... but here's a newsflash for you... breastfeeding is not sexual. THINK about it for a minute... No, seriously... stop your anti-breastfeeding hate brain for a minute and think. Do you believe that all those women who are feeding their children are performing a sexual act with their infants? Was Mary having sex with Jesus for the three years that she breastfed him? Just because a part of the body can be used for sexual pleasure doesn't mean that's its only function. When you wipe yourself after going to the bathroom are you masturbating? How about when you change a diaper on your baby, are you molesting them? Yeah, I didn't think so. Calling breastfeeding "sexual" is just as ridiculous.

"What's next, having Sesame Street teach our kids about sex, abortion, and other adult topics?"

Breastfeeding is not an adult topic. If you are alright with your child seeing a mother feeding a baby with a bottle, then you should also be okay with a mother breastfeeding. Both mothers are accomplishing the same task, and neither one is taboo or something that should be hidden from a curious child. Would you shield your child's eyes at the zoo if they happened to catch a nursing mammal with cute springtime babies? Run in horror the other way? Somehow it seems when it's another mammal everyone *gets* it. But put a human in the picture and suddenly the comments turn nasty and mean.

"Next thing you know they'll be showing poop and peeing on Sesame Street."

Pay attention, Elmo has potty trained your child before. They might not SHOW the poop, just like how when they show breastfeeding you don't actually see the whole breast, but it is implied.

"We just expect TV to teach our kids about everything."

Having breastfeeding featured again on Sesame Street is not going to be the downfall of our culture. Do some kids watch too much TV - absolutely. That's a different topic for a different day folks. Get yer own petition if you want to start limiting children's programing. Mmmmm K? K.

"i downt wunt them nasty tittys on Seasame Streete for my kidz to c. Dats be gross."

Sigh. Parents like you are exactly why we NEED your children to see breastfeeding on Sesame Street.

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Children are curious about breastfeeding. How do I know this? I know because almost every time I'm nursing in public a curious child wanders over and takes a gander. Sometimes they ask me questions, sometimes they smile and run back to their mom to ask her about it, and sometimes they are just plain confused. I've been asked before if I drink [cows] milk and then it fills up in my boobs for the baby to drink. Seriously your kids WANT to know what is going on in there. And if you think breastfeeding is "disgusting" or "sexual" then you obviously shouldn't be the person teaching them.

You may have your hang-ups about breastfeeding, but this all really isn't about you. It's about THEM. The next generation. Why do you want to stand in the way of the next generation of children becoming breastfeeding parents who will improve health, decrease risks, and keep our IQ levels where they should be?

Can You Tell Me How To Get... How to Get Breastfeeding Back on Sesame Street...

There's a big of buzz going around the web on bringing breastfeeding back to Sesame Street. Our first steps are to get Sesame Street on board and drive up public interest in the idea. After that, finding a willing star or two for the video. That's a ways off, but there are things we call all do now to help keep the momentum going. And just as a reminder, we're not asking Sesame Street to take away any bottle feeding scenes, we'd just like to see a mix of how children are fed - as it is in reality. And it's nothing new, breastfeeding has been on Sesame Street in the past..... but has been mysteriously missing for almost 25 years. Sesame Street says that it just hasn't come up in the storyline to have another breastfeeding message... I have to throw a big fat BS flag on that, but atleast they seem receptive to adding some in the future. 


What you can do to help:


First - Please take a moment to sign this petition to bring breastfeeding back to Sesame Street. Back in the 70's and 80's nursing was tastefully shown on the show but now they have replaced their nursing videos with bottles. If we normalize breastfeeding in our community, especially with our children, we can help raise a generation of breastfeeders which will support our economy, make for healthier children and lessen the risk of breast cancer for many nursing mamas!  http://www.thepetitionsite.com/2/bring-breastfeeding-back-to-sesame-street/


Second - Share the petition with everyone you know! 


Third - Tweet Tweet Tweet! Here is a blog with some great step by step instructions on how your tweeting and using specific hash tags will help;  http://nlapcoalition.blogspot.com/2012/01/bfback2sesame-street-tweeting-for-cause.html Retweet is SUPER EASY. Literally you can click on the #BFBack2SesameSt hash that will take you to the list of everyone else's tweets and you can just go down the list retweeting them all!

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Some ideas for Sesame Street.... they are constantly remaking and updating classics, I think it's time for an update on this old mammals nursing video;