I’ll admit when I first read about the The Milk Truck hitting the streets of Pittsburgh, driving around with a giant boob on top and offering moms a comfortable place to nurse inside it’s mobile nursing room – I thought it was a bad idea.
I, like so many moms who want other moms to feel comfortable breastfeeding in public, fell into the category of thinking that giving someone a truck to nurse in will just defeat the purpose of encouraging people to nurse in public and be bad for breastfeeding.
At least that’s what the article on The Stir led me to believe. And that’s what most of the commenters on the Natural Parenting Facebook page were saying too.
Then I did some more research, and did some more thinking. My conclusion is, sometimes I think us breastfeeding moms and advocates can take ourselves a little too seriously.
The colorful stripped truck with the big boob on the top is adapted from a true milk truck that in the 70s would have delivered milk to your door before the sun came up (remember those?). At least that’s what it reminds me of.
The Milk Truck is designed by Jill Miller, an artist and mom who created it for an art exhibit at Pittsburgh’s Any Warhol Museum. And now it’s been transformed into slap-stick humor on wheels.
Moms who don’t feel comfortable nursing in public, or are asked not to, can call or tweet to The Milk Truck to come to them. Then, you can only imagine the faces of business proprietors when it shows up on in their parking lot! It’s like an instant mobil nurse-in making a big artistic statement.
Personally I think this is great breastfeeding humor with a good cause in mind. Of course in an ideal world I’d love it if all mamas felt comfortable feeding their babies in public. While that might not be the case right now, at least The Milk Truck is sparking some conversation about it.
If I were in Pittsburgh I would probably volunteer to drive The Milk Truck. Just for the fun of it.
What do you think?
What a great idea! I have always been pretty comfortable nursing in public. But, once I committed to extended breast feeding, and tandem breast feeding with my toddler and new baby, it got a little more uncomfortable. I nursed my oldest until she was about 3.5, through the 1st year of my son’s life. Then one day she just didn’t want to nurse anymore, and now it is just me and my babe. I sometimes wish that it was normal in the US, and that it would be shocking to see someone give their baby a bottle in public, but alas, not out culture.