As another mother is humiliated for providing nutrition to her offspring in a fairly benign space, it makes me wonder again, what makes public breastfeeding so controversial?

Imagine, you’re starving and you head to your favorite eatery and even though there are empty tables in the joint, you’re escorted past the tables into the bathroom. The host motions you to stall #1 and says, “Best seat in the house.”

You look at the host and say, “Are you kidding?”

“Nope,” the host replies, “You’ll be dining in here today.”

Inside the stall you can seat yourself on their freshly cleaned toilet and pull down a table from the stall wall. But just as your favorite sandwich is placed on your lovely little table, someone flushes in the stall next to you. You’ve lost your appetite.

Now, think about a baby with a new immune system eating in that same space. Bathrooms are one of the most contaminated spaces on earth. The spray from the toilet from flushing sends particles flying many feet in the air and these particles take hours to settle.  The last person into the toilet stall hadn’t washed their hands when they touched the toilet handle, toilet paper dispenser or exiting door handle.  Their hand germs are everywhere, and their hands most recently touched their bottoms.

So even if a mom, who’s not harried and tired, takes the time to wipe down most of the surfaces with her anti-microbial wipes and lay down one of those paper toilet seat covers, she and her child are surrounded by germs. And as her child suckles from her breast, the particles from flushing toilets could very well be landing in the innocent child’s mouth.

The science of this issue is simple, and hardly controversial.  Ladies, our breasts were made to nourish our offspring. This is irrefutable.  While our gentlemen enjoy their beauty, we didn’t grow these things for their pleasure.

Breastfeeding is a biological function, and should be seen as such.  When a child gets hungry, they should be able to be fed.  There shouldn’t be an unwritten rule where other humans believe it is okay to send a mother and her child packing to the bathroom to eat lunch. It’s simply unnecessary.  If breastfeeding really offends you, then turn your head and keep walking.