BREASTFEEDING | TRAVEL
Globetrotting & Breastfeeding
Man writes about breastfeeding and then ducks
Our son, Austin, was screaming his head off, like the sky was caving in. We were on a small boat in Southern India, surrounded by tourists from all over the world. They politely ignored us as they tried to enjoy the beautiful scenery over his continuous bawling. I don’t think it was very easy for them to do that. So my wife took our son off into the tiny on-board toilet and reappeared, five minutes later, with a quiet and happy little boy in tow. A German woman asked how she had managed such a miracle. My wife answered simply, “I hit him”.
You’ll be glad to know she didn’t hit him. And I suspect hitting anyone doesn’t make them less upset. My wife just said that because it was an easier, perhaps even more socially acceptable answer than “I breast fed him”. You see he wasn’t a baby anymore but had not long turned four.
Not many people will be as militantly pro breastfeeding as my wife, but when travelling we could feel how much easier it was to manage his emotions and keep him fed, whilst on the move. At the ridiculously early age of five months, we toured round the Arctic Circle during the Scandinavian summer, which is a much hotter and more relaxing experience than the word ‘Arctic’ suggests. At the top…
