Only the last few generations have messed up public breastfeeding.

Even when everyone dressed modestly, a little exposure for the sake of nursing a baby was totally ok. Why isn't a little exposure ok now that practically no one dresses modestly?

Thanks to Historic Breastfeeding Photos on Facebook for this pic.

Education time: In the early 1900's, public breastfeeding was not hidden or shameful. It was normal and accepted.  I'm pretty sure the photographer taking the picture above wasn't shooting porn. He was documenting normal, everyday life


 As Playboy and Sports Illustrated raised hemlines and lowered collars, bringing BREASTS out of the closet as Funbags, Breasts being used for their natural purposes were shoved into the closet, bathroom, under a blanket, etc. Modesty is nice but feeding a baby is more important. People with gigantic breasts and active babies have little to no chance of covering up successfully for an entire feeding. Does that mean my baby has more of a right to eat because I have a more easily managed breast size?

If it's ok to walk around Wal-Mart, the mall, the beach, and the library like this:

Then it's ok to nurse like this:

And this:

And obviously this:

Now, it only takes about a millisecond of forethought to dress in such a way that you only have to expose ONE breast in order to breastfeed one baby. At home, do whatever you want, but if nursing in public, and you're only nursing ONE baby with ONE mouth, then you don't need to have the extra nipple on display. Tandem nursing would be the exception here, where, two babies with two mouths equals two breasts being used to feed them. 

If you have the skills and ability to tandem feed, you practically deserve a medal, especially if you do it in public.  The woman above is most likely at home. Would this scene be perfectly OK, sitting on a park bench?

 Sure.  The little one needs to eat and the 2 y/o is going to be a jealous screaming monkey, so would you rather listen to the older one (or both) throw a tantrum or let the kids eat? 

I don't know too many tandem feeders, but thanks to modern infertility treatments, multiples are 10x more common today than nature intended, so tandem feeding of twins and triplets is on the rise. The people I know who tandem feed have sibings, not multiples and generally, especially in public make the babies take turns and also use a cover, but should they have to do that? no.