Nursing rooms

Was out on my own last week - in orchard road. Had to express milk in the middle of the afternoon. So I headed for Takashimaya's nursing rooms. The nursing room had two other mothers in there nursing their babies.

I asked politely if I could join them as I needed to express milk. One mom showed me where the outlets were but I was hand expressing, so no need for any power.

I sat there in a corner, t-shirt tugged up, bra undone, surreptitiously hand expressing into a bottle. I don't know why but I felt vaguely uncomfortable. Both other moms were nursing their babies and didn't seem inclined to make conversation. Maybe they were shy or didn't know how to make conversation with a half-naked woman vigourously milking her boobs! Either way I got a sense that people were uncomfortable and the discomfort was infectious!

I was surprised at myself being so uncomfy. I am usually not prudish. I usually enjoy talking to other nursing mothers when I do have to nurse/express in nursing rooms, imagining a sisterhood among us. But this time, I actually had to turn my body halfway towards the wall and work fast - and of course, the more 'kan cheong spider' I became, the poorer the letdown!

It got me thinking about nursing rooms and where a hand-expresser like me could express milk without facing a silent wall of disapproval. Does this mean that I should hand express in the loo? But why should I? I would not feed my babe in the loo so why should I hand express there? Why would it be wrong to sit in a semi-public nursing room and hand express? Is it me? Or am I just picking up on their vibes?

The whole concept of nursing room means nursing away from public view. It is something that does not sit right with me. Because why should mothers hide away to nurse their babes? I do appreciate that having a nursing room is useful in a pinch for expressers who need a place to express milk without resorting to the loo. But I guess there is the ick factor for moms to deal with when they come face to face (or face to boob!) with a mom like me.

Perhaps we're so divorced from the reality that yeah, breastfeeding does involve the boobies and yeah, this is what they look like and what they do? We're all so covered up when we're nursing - even in the nursing rooms, and when we pump, there's always the technology/machinery as a shield. So I don't blame moms for being disconcerted, but I do hope we'll all just live and let live, know what I mean?

The sight of naked breasts are still very much linked to M18 films or National Geographic docus. But a pair of them in the nursing room of Takashimaya? Erm....