Professor slammed for BF during class

[JASMAK]

Havent read the pages here. I guess the kid who wrote the tweet was a dimwit. Obviously. The professor should be able to feed her child wherever...not sure about feeding DURING work....like, take a break? Mostly, I feel sad the baby was dragged along with a fever though. When my kids are sick...they want to be home. Its kind of blown out of proportion.

 

[tasha41]

TBH I feel that, if you make arrangements with your employer & consistently arrange for a break from work to go breastfeed your child, that is fine. That would have been okay IMO, for her to arrange to breastfeed outside her class schedule or allow an assistant or something to take over, give her students some reading time, etc. We had a manager from my work do just that, she opted to take her break before her baby's bedtime, her husband brought her daughter to be breastfed in our work office. Our employer was happy to accommodate that, and yeah, sometimes it was at inconvenient times for the rest of us (with rushes), we made do & she did not subject our employees to her breasts, etc. Because she was/is in a professional environment.

It's not professional to bring your child to work, end of. Especially one who is fussing and sick! It's disruptive, these students were there to learn, and paying a lot of money to do so. Classes are cancelled in university/college all the time without explanation or notice often enough, students may get grumpy but they get over it if it's not a constant issue & if she chose to explain herself, she probably could have worked her situation into her lecture, being a single mom & having to take off work with her sick child etc. Daycare rules suck, my daughter can get sent home from preschool for a constant running nose, red eyes/suspected pink eye, diarrhea, or any fever. I don't get paid sick time but if my regular childcare providers won't watch her due to illness or she needs her mum, I have to take off work and miss out on the $. I knew I was getting into that when I got pregnant & chose to become a mother.

I also agree it was unfair to the child to be dragged, while ill, to an unfamiliar environment full of strangers.

 

[Menelly]

I refer you again to the congresswoman who brought her baby to work. Seems there would be more of an uproar over that. She is contributing to running the USA after all....

I kind of look at it this way: I feel I have every right to breastfeed in public because anyone who objects has the right to leave or look away if uncomfortable.

By being the instructor, people who were uncomfortable lost that right. They couldn't turn away and not watch. Yes, breastfeeding is natural, but there are people uncomfortable with it, and their feelings are valid as well.

I'd have a very different reaction if it'd been a female student who brought the baby to class, as she could have discreetly breastfed an anyone who had issues could have looked away.

It's kind of contradictory, but it's my feelings.

 

[xSin]

Wow this is a tough one!!!

I will say this, I TOTALLY disagree with the notion that the students were "forced" to watch her BF. Yes she's lecturing, however that is done with one's mouth, and the EARS of the listener. That means you are readily able to avert your gaze to your notebook while writing down NOTES ... or you can choose to watch the Powerpoint Presentations which are frequently a part of lectures... or you can simply look elsewhere. Nobody was "forced" to stare at her tit. If they found it "oh so riveting" and simply "could not look away" then that's their problem, not hers. And yes, they could've gotten up to leave for a few minutes.

Should the child have been there? This one's a bit tougher... obviously its not the norm, and if I were in the prof's shoes honestly I probably would've done the same thing in terms of bringing the child to the workplace. It would seem like a pretty reasonable means of upholding my responsibility both as a parent, and as a professor. In the lecture hall? That one's a bit tougher again... As a prof she would have an office and I don't think it would've been unreasonable to leave the kid with an assistant for the duration of one lecture but then again who knows what her circumstances are? Its not like every prof only ever gives one lecture in the period of a day. Its not just that one class she'd be missing out on if she took an entire day off.

I'm not sure there is one "right" answer but I do agree that the only reason this is even "known about" is because she BF... not because she had the kid with her.

 

[Menelly]

I'm sure that some of the people upset in this thread will say that this doesn't matter, but this was not a "newborn". It was a 1 year old little girl.

So? something wrong with breastfeeding a 1 year old?

No, there is nothing wrong with breastfeeding a 1 year old. However, I have even less sympathy with a one year old. A newborn needs to eat NOW. A one year old can be held off with a sippy cup and some Cheerios until the end of class.

 

[Ozzieshunni]

I'm sure that some of the people upset in this thread will say that this doesn't matter, but this was not a "newborn". It was a 1 year old little girl.

So? something wrong with breastfeeding a 1 year old?

No, there is nothing wrong with breastfeeding a 1 year old. However, I have even less sympathy with a one year old. A newborn needs to eat NOW. A one year old can be held off with a sippy cup and some Cheerios until the end of class.

Oh if only....there are times where my 15 month old MUST have boob NOW! Nothing else will placate him.

 

[joshiesmum]

I'm sure that some of the people upset in this thread will say that this doesn't matter, but this was not a "newborn". It was a 1 year old little girl.

So? something wrong with breastfeeding a 1 year old?

No, there is nothing wrong with breastfeeding a 1 year old. However, I have even less sympathy with a one year old. A newborn needs to eat NOW. A one year old can be held off with a sippy cup and some Cheerios until the end of class.

Totally agree. it just shows she did it to get attention!!

 

[Ozzieshunni]

Vintage, you are fully incorrect that the professor was making a statement. This is what was said by CNN: https://edition.cnn.com/2012/09/14/living/breastfeeding-professor/index.html

On top of that, the university isn't seeking any type of discipline against the professor. Instead, it's looking into alternative childcare options for its employees. I think the university has taken a very proactive look at this situation. They aren't bothered by the breastfeeding. The professor also said that she WASN'T trying to make any type of statement.

 

[Aidan's Mummy]

I don't understand how they can find any alternative childcare? The child was ill therefore they shouldn't be in childcare full stop. x

 

[indy and lara]

Absolutely Aidan's Mummy. This child was not there because childcare was not available. He was there because he was too ill to go. Just what kinr of provision can they make for that? Also, I still believe that there is no place for kids in the workplace. Dh often works ftom home and he never gets to fully focus on work when Em is around. She is not usually able to bf her child at this time of day so what happens when the child is in nursery and needs milk?

 

[robinator]

Nobody was "forced" to stare at her tit. If they found it "oh so riveting" and simply "could not look away" then that's their problem, not hers. And yes, they could've gotten up to leave for a few minutes.

Um...wow.

 

[pinklightbulb]

A newborn I could suck it up and take it as a one-off.
A toddler? No.

 

[Jaylynne]

Yeah cause its so easy to stare at the eyes of the prof when she's trying to get a most likely wriggly baby on the boob. It's human nature to watch where the action is.

Get real. The students shouldn't have had to be in that position.

This is getting silly.

 

[Foogirl]

I cannot believe some of the attitudes here. And from mothers too. Are we still living in the dark ages??

It is entirely possible to take a baby to your place of employment and still be doing your job. Especially giving a lecture at university. When I think of the quality of many of my lecturers, I can't help but think that a woman breastfeeding a child would be far more preferable to the ones who either talk at you badly for an hour, or are distracted by something else. During my maternity leave, I took part in many conference calls from home with my handsfree kit in whilst looking after my daughter. Mostly she was breastfeeding during them. If these meetings had been local and no conferencing facilities were available, I'd have taken her in. And if anyone had a problem with it, tough. If at any point she was becoming a distraction, I would have left the room or stopped the call.

These students should realise the world doesn't revolve around everything being perfect for them and they should have learned a great lesson in acceptance. And to say "they are paying thousands for their education so this is wrong" is ridiculous. Seriously? One lecture where a lecturer may not have been perfect? There are any number of things which are not worth the money students pay for education and this is definitely not one of them.

With the shockingly bad levels of maternity leave and pay provision for women in the US, this woman should be commended for doing something which shows she is trying to balance work and family, something the US badly needs to encourage people to do.

And I do suspect there would have been less of an outcry if she had been bottle feeding the child or had just brought them in in a pram to sleep through the lecture. This is to do with poor attitudes to breastfeeding, dressed up as an "unprofessional" argument.

The guy who tweeted during the class (not that THAT is a distraction....) only did so after she started feeding the child, why not when he first went it. And he later tweeted "...I don't do feminism, I'm a pro-male chauvinism type guy #makemeasandwich"

...and yet is is the professor who is considered wrong?

 

[Foogirl]

Yeah cause its so easy to stare at the eyes of the prof when she's trying to get a most likely wriggly baby on the boob. It's human nature to watch where the action is.

Get real. The students shouldn't have had to be in that position.

This is getting silly.

Who ever actually watches a lecturer? My students barely cast me a glance during lectures. All too busy with their heads in an I-phone, or looking at notes on an OHP. Any who were watching, tended to look away if you caught their eye.

You are right, it is very silly that anyone can seriously think this is a major problem.

 

[indy and lara]

I bf for 14 months all over the place. I have no problem with bf. I still think her poorly child had no place in a lecture hall. Just as I used to complain about poorly prepared lecturers, I would complain about someone, male or female, bringing their child with them to a lecture. I wonder if people would be so understanding if I brought my daughter to school when I was teaching your child?

 

[Jaylynne]

Have you not noticed a majority of breastfeeding women say this is unprofessional?! Babies have NO place in a lecture hall. None. If your students are distracted too bad. In my university we were graded on paying attention as well as test scores and professors took cell phones til the end of class or kicked out students using them.

And I am in the US. I know how bad maternity leave is. That doesn't mean she can use her classroom as a sick ward. Obviously she wasn't paying much attention to her sick child if she got a paper clip in her mouth and a student pointed it out. Which meant the student wasn't paying attention to to lecture.

Get over the breastfeeding. Child shouldnt be there. Not professional. Who cares if it's one lecture. Students are still paying for it not paying for the mom to look after her sick child.

If a professor can't devote her attention to what she's being paid for she shouldn't be teaching. There's plenty of people willing to take her place in the US right now who would give 100%

 

[Foogirl]

I bf for 14 months all over the place. I have no problem with bf. I still think her poorly child had no place in a lecture hall. Just as I used to complain about poorly prepared lecturers, I would complain about someone, male or female, bringing their child with them to a lecture. I wonder if people would be so understanding if I brought my daughter to school when I was teaching your child?

It wouldn't bother me one bit. There's more to education than book learning. A lesson these students clearly need to learn!

 

[Foogirl]

Have you not noticed a majority of breastfeeding women say this is unprofessional?! Babies have NO place in a lecture hall. None. If your students are distracted too bad. In my university we were graded on paying attention as well as test scores and professors took cell phones til the end of class or kicked out students using them.

And I am in the US. I know how bad maternity leave is. That doesn't mean she can use her classroom as a sick ward. Obviously she wasn't paying much attention to her sick child if she got a paper clip in her mouth and a student pointed it out. Which meant the student wasn't paying attention to to lecture.

Get over the breastfeeding. Child shouldnt be there. Not professional. Who cares if it's one lecture. Students are still paying for it not paying for the mom to look after her sick child.

If a professor can't devote her attention to what she's being paid for she shouldn't be teaching. There's plenty of people willing to take her place in the US right now who would give 100%

What a horrible attitude. Perhaps this kind of thing needs to happen a lot more often as it appears many people need to learn some valuable life lessons.

If breastfeeding isn't the issue, why was she allowed to bring the child to class? Why did her employer not stop her before she reached the room? Why did the tweeting student not seem to care about it until she was breastfeeding? Why was it mentioned at all?

And, how on earth can students be "graded on paying attention" That is something that absolutely cannot be graded.

I'd rather have this woman giving lectures and as an employee than anyone who care little about other people.

 

[Aidan's Mummy]

I cannot believe some of the attitudes here. And from mothers too. Are we still living in the dark ages??

It is entirely possible to take a baby to your place of employment and still be doing your job. Especially giving a lecture at university. When I think of the quality of many of my lecturers, I can't help but think that a woman breastfeeding a child would be far more preferable to the ones who either talk at you badly for an hour, or are distracted by something else. During my maternity leave, I took part in many conference calls from home with my handsfree kit in whilst looking after my daughter. Mostly she was breastfeeding during them. If these meetings had been local and no conferencing facilities were available, I'd have taken her in. And if anyone had a problem with it, tough. If at any point she was becoming a distraction, I would have left the room or stopped the call.

These students should realise the world doesn't revolve around everything being perfect for them and they should have learned a great lesson in acceptance. And to say "they are paying thousands for their education so this is wrong" is ridiculous. Seriously? One lecture where a lecturer may not have been perfect? There are any number of things which are not worth the money students pay for education and this is definitely not one of them.

With the shockingly bad levels of maternity leave and pay provision for women in the US, this woman should be commended for doing something which shows she is trying to balance work and family, something the US badly needs to encourage people to do.

And I do suspect there would have been less of an outcry if she had been bottle feeding the child or had just brought them in in a pram to sleep through the lecture. This is to do with poor attitudes to breastfeeding, dressed up as an "unprofessional" argument.

The guy who tweeted during the class (not that THAT is a distraction....) only did so after she started feeding the child, why not when he first went it. And he later tweeted "...I don't do feminism, I'm a pro-male chauvinism type guy #makemeasandwich"

...and yet is is the professor who is considered wrong?

I have breastfed in public too. For me the issue isn't breastfeeding. The things that I don't agree with is taking a child that is too sick for nursery to a lecture theatre while she carried out a lesson. The child was not well they do not need to be dragged to a lecture while mummy works just because mummy refuses to take time off. When my children are ill I take time off work because my children's health and well-being is more important than my job. Yes I don't get paid but at the end of the day they are my main responsibility and a child that is too sick to go to nursery needs to be cared for at home x