Public breastfeeding

[shovk]

Why are you shocked, jeni?
Surely not because I have total control of my flatulence?

Oh GNetters 'holding on' is not something to be proud of. It can cause bladder problems later on and even the possibility of a stroke! Why can't you ask to go to the toilet in someone's house? Why should there be this embarrassment about a normal function? Likewise breastfeeding; it's normal to breastfeed and thankfully - and hopefully - the days are long gone when toilet cubicles were used by mothers to breastfeed their little ones. Wasn't it Penelope Leach who asked something along the lines of 'Would you want to have your lunch in the toilet?'

How can it cause a stroke???!!!!

I don't belieeeeve it.

I don't try to hold on - I am usually walking in very remote mountains and there is never a problem in finding a private spot. I did suffer from what was diagnosed as an irritable bladder some years ago, which meant I was always on the lookout for toilets in supermarkets, etc. but my vigorous walking programme seems to have cured that too, along with my arthritic knees and overweight! I don't need to get up in the night anymore.

Just gone onto Amazon to look at this amazing shewee - I cannot stop laughing. You know how on Amazon they show you the item you have searched for and then also further "related" items that "you might like to try" - one of these items is "rubber mallet with wooden shaft and peg extractor" - well, I suppose one could always try!!

I am trying to decide how to deal with my summer school stay that is coming up. The room I will be in has a sink but no toilet, so when I need the loo in the night (I always do) I will have to traipse along a public corridor to the bathroom. The main problems with this are that I will have to find my glasses in the dark and that I will have woken up fully by the time I get to the loo - and will not be able to go back to sleep again - so I had a demon plan to take an ice cream tub - pee in it by the bed and chuck/wash the contents down the sink. Here's a conundrum!! - if I get a shewee instead, will I have to stand on a chair to direct the stream into the sink? - all advice gratefully received!!

greatnan ,
are you also a devotee ( stupid word ) of cranberry juice?

I cannot understand this at all, as a mother, ( and my kids have long since grown up and flown the nest) the, most natural part of having children is feeding them naturally, it is society, that has branded the breasts of women as a sexual part of their anatomy, there function is to provide food for our ofspring - I agree it is circumspect to be discreet, but at the end of the day, It is the most natural and wonderful part of childcare. support these women, they are doing something that has the best for each child at heart

Stick with the ice cream container Mishap.

You have to be able to pee slowly with a shewee. Or they overflow.

I'm told that one of the most common items collected from beside main roads and motorways by those people who collect the rubbish are plastic bottles filled with urine. Lorry drivers fill them up and then discard them out of the window [yuk emoticom]
BTW - I find my Shewee very useful!

No, I hate cranberry juice.

Yes, it's much easier for men!
goldengirl, when I talked about 'holding on', I actually meant that I don't feel the need to go urgently during the day - not that I'm often trying desperately to contain it. I agree that if you're 'bursting to go', you should!

[mishap] when I used to sail, I provided 'en suite' facilities for the males!
Ie male portable urinals with lids. They could use them discretely in their bunks and take them up to the'facilities ' the next morning to empty them!

Oh yes Yoga. You bought one didn't you?! I don't know how you manage with one. I can't.

Yes, I've heard about the plastic bottles. Dirty Bu****s!

By the way. I hope the icecream container is not a cornet?

Keep practising jingle - you'll get the hang of it. It's a very strange sensation when you pee standing up

Not really - I do it in the shower occasionally!

jeni

Wonderful! You nutty lot have gone rapidly from breast-feeding to farting - I rest my case - something some of you think wonderful, intimate and precious is now in the same category as peeing in public! Where else could we get such conversation but here with us.

PS: first I've heard about extra tax on taps [we did have a house in France once till we recovered] - it was more that so many houses weren't on mains drainage and the French didn't feel the need to spend money on septic tanks when they can pee/poo in the gutters - plus the french fosse septique system works on worms that would be killed by the over-use of soap - another reason for its lack of use.

Oh, dear, Nanban - you are not in a light-hearted mood this morning, are you? Never mind, it is a lovely sunny day here in Haute Savoie and I am off to explore Bourg en Bresse - I hope you have a nice day planned for yourself.

A cornet!!!! jens!!!

Sorry. just caught sight of that post.

It was funny.

Back to breast feeding. When we were having lunch in John Lewis, a very young baby screamed at the top of his "little" voice. After a few minutes of mayhem, the mother lifted her top and exposed a breast [not for too long] and baby was silenced as it fed. I understood that it was the natural and sensible thing to do. No one stared. It really isn't too hard to carry on enjoying the meal whilst having a normal conversation with one's partner, or admire the view through the window. In next to no time, baby and mother were at peace.

JO4: apparently holding on increases the heart and blood pressure and for older people, and others who are ill or vulnerable it could cause a stroke or have other health implications.