Norman on NIP: Norman Reedus Supports Breastfeeding in Public!

Norman Reedus, who plays Daryl Dixon on The Walking Dead, made women love him even more when he posed for a photo with two breastfeeding moms at a convention.  The photo was shared in a Facebook group, and I contacted one mom, Tammie Hamed, to request permission to meme it.

Elizabeth Dalton & Tammie Hamed with their nurslings & Norman

Tammie said that Norman happened to have that boob ball on him. I've since seen a boob pillow and boob slippers (more on those later) with Norman - I'm wondering if a fan gave it to him? The boob prompted Tammie to offer to breastfeed in their photo, which she said Norman was very excited about!

In fact, in my Facebook thread for this meme, Jennifer Lopez commented that she was in line behind Elizabeth and Tammie, and the photographer pulled up the photos for him to see, and a copy was printed for him!  She added that he said it was the "coolest picture of all time!"

He really must have liked it, because he tweeted his Instagram photo of another pose before the show!

Source.

The Free the Nipple movement is what Norman is presumed to be referencing here.  You might expect a man who is a sex symbol to be as guilty as society of sexualizing breasts.  Or maybe it's because women sexualize him that he seems to have no trouble recognizing that the primary function of breasts is to nurture children!

And I say children (versus infants) because yes, the little girl on the right is a toddler.  And no, she's not too old to be breastfeeding.  Mammals typically wean when their baby teeth, also called milk teeth, fall out.  In humans, that's around age 5 or 6 - not at all an unusual age for a human child to be breastfeeding.  Weaning ages vary throughout the cultures of the world.  Here in America, where women are oversexualized and Booby Traps abound, less than half of mothers have adequate support to still be breastfeeding at all at 6 months. But the World Health Organization recommends a minimum of 2 years of nursing, and thereafter for as long as mother and child both desire.

But moving on to the slippers I need right now.  Norman ended Sunday night with this tweet:

Source.

Before I move on to shamelessly brag about my lame claim to Walking Dead fame (I know one of the actors!), I would be remiss if I did not point out that not all moms have Norman around with the bird or even a peace sign - or Daryl around with his bow.

So when moms are asked to cover up, or move (often to a restroom), or to leave a place of public accommodation, they're relying on the law to protect them. And in Texas, it doesn't. It asserts a mother's right to breastfeed anywhere she's authorized to be, but it's not illegal to violate that right. In fact, this weekend a mother was escorted by a police officer with her two children from a roller rink, for feeding her baby.  Daryl wasn't there, but you can be. Texas moms need your help to support legislation to strengthen the right to breastfeed law and remove other barriers to breastfeeding.  See how you can help at TXBFLeg.com.  

And now I shall geek out about how cool it feels to know one of the actors on my favorite show!  

#Porchdick Pete is my husband's best friend from college!  Adam got to go with Corey to the season 5 wrap party for The Walking Dead when Corey's wife was unavailable. I'd have loved to have been available, but it was a plus one thing, and I stayed home in Austin with our kids. But I lived vicariously through photos that Adam sent me through the night.  Like my second favorite photo of Norman Reedus:

Back off, ladies. He's mine! (I do mean Adam, for the record.)

Corey told Andy this photo would
get Adam laid.  It might've.

Adam & Chad Coleman

Adam & Scott Gimple

Adam & Corey & a zombie!

OK, well, there are a bunch more but I've geeked out enough, and I need to go to bed so I can get up soon and start contacting Business and Industry Committee members (especially Representative Rinaldi) about Morgan having had the cops called on her for breastfeeding.  Hope you'll help.  There are lots of ways - share, contact legislators - it's all at that link.  I think Norman would want you to.

A Guardian Angel: A Positive Breastfeeding/NIP Story

This story was shared in a local breastfeeding support group on Facebook. I asked to share it here because I think it's important that we hear about the positive stories. Social and traditional media are over-saturated with negative NIP stories, to the point that it may seem discrimination is inevitable. But it's not. Sometimes when someone approaches you as you breastfeed - it's to tell you how awesome you are!

If you have a positive story to share, email me at KeepAustinNIP@gmail.com. I'd like to make this a habit!

Here are Jessie's words:

"I was having an incredibly hard day today (car broke down, bills arrived in the mail that I can't pay, agonizing sinus issues, trying to move past family drama, yet another job interview that didn't pan out) and brought my four month old son to Sprouts Farmers Market off Manchaca to do my weekly grocery shopping that I had been putting off for days.

Eight minutes and a half full cart in, Brave starts having a hangry meltdown. Already scatterbrained and overwhelmed, it doesn't occur to me to set my cart aside and go out to my car - I just frantically look for a place to sit down to nurse him because I couldn't get the position right in my Ergo. So, I 'pull over' near the eggs, sit on the edge of the cooler, and pull my cart as much out of the way as I can. I'm so emotional that I forget to put on my 'what I'm doing is natural face,' and I keep my head down while blushing at my gulping, teary-eyed infant.

Suddenly, a man in his late fifties or early sixties who is looking at the vegetables to my left speaks up to me and says... (get your tissues, I'm crying as I type this), "I honor you for what you do. You are doing such good by your son! My mama, she fed me like that until I was two years old - and it made me different, it made a difference for me. Women in Europe they do it everyday; I do not understand why women here cannot feed their sons without shame. It is natural!"

I was expecting him to berate me, and it took me off guard. I got choked up and thanked him as my eyes started to water. He nodded and started to walk away when he thought better and turned back to me to look me straight in the eye and say, "Anyone can be a mama..." Then he pointed at me and continued, "...but you are a great mama." I couldn't speak and tears streamed down my face. He smiled at me and told me to have a great day, and walked away. I so needed that, right then. What a guardian angel!"

An angel indeed!  As Jessie put it, "I wish EVERY mama got this kind of love when they need it most."

Jessie with her son, Brave

Jessie is a 27-year-old transplant living in Austin from the Pacific Northwest, and a single mama to both a four-month-old ginger named Bravery and a four-year-old Labradoodle named Maggie.