Thursday, January 26, 2012

Nursing In Public

Siapa ada pengalaman menyusu di tempat awam atau Nursing In Public (NIP)?

Setakat ini, aku pernah melalui lebih kurang 4 pengalaman menyusu di tempat awam; Dua di antaranya dalam restoran (both in our favourite restaurant, Nando's :/) satu dalam surau shopping complex, satu lagi dalam Nursing Room at Jusco.

The first time I tried NIP, I was wearing a normal blouse (not designed for nursing) together with nursing cover/poncho. It was terrible, since my baby hates to be put inside the poncho (dia rimas!) thus he struggles to uncover herself, hence creates more attention from public. So embarassing nampak macam aku dera anak saje T__T. Then only I learnt that I must wear a nursing dress/blouse next time.

Satu yang aku boleh cakap berdasarkan pemerhatian aku sekeliling; Tempat awam di Malaysia ni (wow taknak sebut Kuala Lumpur sebut Malaysia terus :p) like shopping complex especially masih kurang 'friendly' or supportive towards breastfeeding moms. Tak banyak tempat disediakan khas untuk menyusukan anak. Not the toilet please, kau nak ke makan dalam toilet? Lagi nak bagi anak makan dalam toilet. Takkan setiap kali nak menyusu kena lari ke Jusco nak nak bila anak dah start menangis lapar, what if there's no Jusco around?

Everytime we enter any eating places we always have to request to be seated at discreet table supaya senang nak menyusu. Yes we never bring any ready stock (sebab stok tak banyak sayang nak guna, plus leceh nak bawa botol bagai dengan beg pemanas segala plus kenapa nak bagi EBM when he can get the fresh one straightaway je right?).


Kami di lokasi yang agak tersorok di dalam Nando's. Still, tidaklah tersorok mana sebab people still lalu lalang kat depan. I'm no longer using poncho now, tak selesa. What I did is just wear a decent nursing blouse dan susukan anak di bawah tudung. A lot easier and nobody notice it, unless if you're staring at me the whole time yes.


Something like this. Only that during nursing he will be underneath my scarf. (Excuse my bare face without make up :/)

Sepatutnya zaman sekarang di mana masyarakat lebih educated dan aware tentang kelebihan susu ibu (orang dulu-dulu kurang pendedahan tentang susu ibu, mereka memandang susu formula adalah yang terbaik dan hanya orang miskin yang menyusu badan), mungkin tempat-tempat penyusuan perlu diperbanyakkan di merata tempat. Buatlah macam satu bilik kecil khas or booth bersaiz karaoke jamban tu di mana-mana khas untuk ibu yang perlu menyusu. Dalam hal ini, usaha Jusco sangatlah dipandang tinggi dan dihargai.


Nursing room, Jusco Sunway Pyramid.


With a proper changing station (men are not allowed actually, tapi sebab tak ada orang so belasah jelah :p)
Siap ada belt tu kalau lasak sangat susah nak tukar diaper, hah pakai seat belt padan muka! Tapi masa ni dia goodboy, diaaamm je masa tengah tukar :P




And kalau ada yang bawa susu sejuk dalam cooler bag tu, boleh panaskan di sini. Juga untuk formula-feeding babies. Tak perlu nak bawa air panas dalam termos lagi. Bagus kan?
Selain Jusco ada 2-3 tempat lagi yang provide nursing room macam ini, baca kat blog-blog orang lain rasanya Isetan at the Gardens pun sudah ada.
I heard that there's several places yang melarang wanita menyusukan anak di situ, walaupun penyusuan itu dilakukan secara tertutup (in appropriate way with nursing covers/poncho). Haih, dah kau kenapa? Macamlah kami tidak tahu menjaga aurat? Is that really disturbing? Funny, when people are being sceptical to mothers who try to breastfeed in public, but not to those girls yang sengaja tayang part of their boobs in public.
Penerimaan masyarakat juga satu hal juga, kalau dah nampak ada wanita sedang menyusukan anak tu tak perlulah nak pandang-pandang, nak bisik-bisik, not that we're exposing our breast pun kan? So far belum pernah lagi terjadi pada aku (sebab tak ada siapa perasan aku tengah breastfeed pun, dari jauh nampak macam tengah peluk anak je), still the self-conscious is there and my husband still has to protect/cover me from in front everytime I'm breastfeeding. Guess I just have to learn to get used with it.
Nevertheless, all those things never discourage me from continuing my breastfeeding journey. Ammar Yusuf is almost 6 month old now and Alhamdulillah still exclusively breastfeeding. Way to go, Sweetheart! =)



8 comments:

Arifah said...

Haih, macam mana lah kalau dah hbis pntang nanti. Tak reti lagi nak NIP. Sebab everytime nk menyusu kat rumah pun, kena selak baju luas2 baru rasa selesa nak menyusu.kahkah!Takkan in public pun nak selak baju luas2 jugak.hehehe...

Husna Hadzarami said...

Hahaha samalah kita! Kadang2 tak pakai baju pun sebab nak selesa kahkah! Okay maybe too much information :/ Ala alah bisa tegal biasa. Lama-lama mesti OK. Kita sekarang ni pun masih cuba membiasakan diri, rasa awkward tu masih ada lagi especially kalau kat restoran yg ramai orang kan. Kalau dalam Nursing Room tu takpelah..

Ideologi Hidayah said...

I pun pernah lalui situation macam u.. time tu pergi hospital swasta, nak jmpe paed, & my son dah nangis-nangis nak susu, so I NIP, semua patient yg tgh tunggu paed tu pandang I just like breastfeeding is crime! Husband I la tukang cover2 kan..huhu

sbb tu I suka pergi klinik/hspital gov, selesa jek BF room diorang.. mungkin sbb diorg mmg fully support BF ni kot..

Husna Hadzarami said...

Oh my, it's in the hospital some more! Tak apalah, we cant force people to understand what we're doing. Cuma kita kena kuatkan semangat la kan, and terapkan dalam hati that we do nothing wrong pun.

Anyway happy breastfeeding! =)

Faz said...

hi dear.. i ter stumble tis nice blog..:)

btw last sunday went to jusco with my kidz & bibik (hasben xjoin).. we sit at kfc center table (meja tepi smue occupied) & ttibe my baby mlalak nk susu.. alhamdulillah people around plus the kfc staffs just ignoring.. xdepon staring or bisik2 at me.. hopefully they know that that time i was giving the best to my babe,hehe..

Unknown said...

hello... i don't understand your language but i see a bit of English so i'm getting the gist of what you are saying. i do understand you in the level of breastfeeding since i was a breastfeeding mum in Malaysia too. i hope you don't mind if i put this link in my breastfeeding page in FB. Happy Breastfeeding!

Unknown said...

sorry i forgot, it's www.facebook.com/supermumsmilkincookies

Farha IbuCergas said...

yang mencabarnya kalao baby jenis dok tepis2 dan singkap2. adoihai lah anak. anak baby kecik x pe. ni yang dah toddler ni, sungguh la buat ibu rasa gelisah.