Muslim mamas...a question about nursing

[Slabobbin]

Hello all.

Last night I went to the Mosque with a friend whose husband is Muslim. After prayers and eating, a man was giving a speech. The men were all in their room and all of the women were in their room. There was a wooden wall partition between the two rooms. It was kind of like a waffle weave pattern so that you could see through but it wasn't wide open...it was kind of hard to actually see through without going right up to it and looking.

My one year old dd wanted to nurse and though I usually just nurse whenever and wherever...I did ask where I should take my baby in order to nurse her. I was told that I could just nurse her where I was...which is what I figured, as it was all women...but I did want to show respect.

So I was sitting in the back of the room, leaning against the wall, nursing and a different woman came in with a sheet/blanket and handed it to me and whispered that I needed to show some privacy and that men could walk by the partition and see me. I apologized and said that I had asked and was told that I could nurse there. By this time the baby was finished so I just laid the cloth beside me. The way I was nursing, nothing could be seen as I had on a long sleeve loose shirt and a hijab that had long tails...so I was pretty covered - although I am sure that it was obvious what I was doing.

Anyway...I was torn between being embarrassed and being put out. Do anyone have any insight on what happened?

[Liquesce]

I'm sorry you felt embarrassed ... it's entirely possible she was just trying to be nice, that she thought you might be unaware that you could be seen, and/or that in their community it's unusual to nurse without a cover. Attitudes towards visible breastfeeding and visible breastfeeding in different circumstances vary so widely among Muslims that it's not really something that's easy to comment on in a general way.

[1jooj]

:

I've had individual women do the same to me, and on the other hand, I have had men have long conversations with me while I nursed a child--and they didn't bat an eye. In fact, two people from one single culture having opposite reactions...hmmm...a lot like general society, I guess.

I lived in a Muslim-majority culture where most women covered, but breastfeeding trumped all that. Any nursing child could nurse anywhere, anyhow, no questions or looks.

I'm sorry this happened to you. Please don't sweat it. You tried to be sensitive.

[Summertime Mommy]

I would think it was just that one person's reaction. In Islam, breastfeeding is a child's birthright. So I think (I hope) it was probably her own hang up.

[UmmAli]

Breastfeeding is one of the reasons that woman are not together with men in mosque. You had every right to nurse your child.

[umsami]

What everybody else said.

I think like with people of all faiths, some are more comfortable with nursing in public and others are not.

I can say that I've nursed in public in Egypt... and many mosques in the States... and nobody batted an eye in Egypt. My MIL actually yelled at my husband when he suggested that I wait until we got home. (Think...how could you even say that... it's the baby's right.... God will hold you accountable for every second he goes hungry... etc. ) In the States, some women were totally comfy... others were not so. I would just attribute it as one of the latter.

You did nothing wrong.

[Slabobbin]

Thanks mamas. You have eased my mind.