tuff titties

3rd August 2010

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breastfeeding doesn’t suck

did you know that 60% of women who don’t have kids feel uncomfortable when they see a woman breastfeed? frankly, i had no idea so many women “disapproved” of such a natural act. and then kim kardashian caused a ruckus with a certain tweet, appalled that a woman had the gall to feed her babe in public and in such a close proximity to herself. the nerve, right?

but it seems many women these days are knocking one of woman’s most natural functions. aside from grossing out starlets and the everywoman alike, the facebook community also has taken issue with mommy duty, deleting images of moms feeding their newborns the old-fashioned way as they felt the photos contained “nudity and explicit sexual content.” shocked yet? hold on, there’s more: some women opt out of performing the duty as a way to continue to associate her lady lumps as sexual “fun bags.”

as you can see, the boob’s only function has been getting nothing but negative vibes. in an effort to counteract all the bad press, thebump.com (a leading site that chronicles what to expect when you’re expecting) and breastfeeding.com (the title is self-explanatory) came together to create the breastfeeding doesn’t suckcampaign. with celebrities like lisa loeb, kelly rutherford, and ali landry using their famous mugs to front the campaign, bds aims to take a frank yet humorous approach to get moms excited to talk about their breasts—and breastfeeding, obvi—sharing personal stories, as well as any nicknames, about their chest pieces.

“our survey, thebump.com 3rd annual pregnancy & baby study, found that so many moms (more than 50%!) were having difficulty breastfeeding and that so many people were simply weirded out by it,” says carley roney, thebump.com’s editor in chief. “that’s when we realized we needed to create an awareness campaign that would shine a light on the unbelievable benefits of breastfeeding—and help new moms battle the initial hurdles of breastfeeding.”

so for all you breastfeeding haters out there: we’re here, don’t fear, get used to it. and read on after the jump for some eyebrow-raising statistics.

breastfeeding perceptions:

—54% of moms think women are pressured to stop breastfeeding sooner than they would like to; 46% of women overall think women are pressured to stop breastfeeding sooner than they would like to.

—nearly 30% of women without children feel there shouldn’t be so much pressure on moms to breastfeed. 22% of non-moms also said that the “right” age for a mother to stop breastfeeding was 6 months or younger.

breastfeeding in public:

—64% of new moms are embarrassed to breastfeed in public, 23% of them refuse to breastfeed in public under any circumstances.

—57% of women without children feel uncomfortable seeing someone breastfeed in public. in fact, a full 20% of women said, “ewww, in private please!”

—moms tend to be more comfortable than non-moms with seeing someone breastfeed in public, however 1 in 4 moms still have an issue with it.

breastfeeding benefits & difficulties:

—more than 20% of women without children think that formula can keep baby just as healthy as breast milk. 18% of moms feel the same way.

—first-time moms (56%) are more likely to have difficulty breastfeeding than moms with more than one child (40%).

—91% of new moms who had difficulty breastfeeding elicited the help of a lactation consultant or breastfeeding coach.

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