Carnival of Nursing in Public: Call for Submissions
It seems like we can never go more than a few weeks without a mother breastfeeding her child in public making the headlines. In the last three months alone a Denver, CO mother created a stir when she nursed her newborn daughter at a Colorado Rockies game; a Tampa, FL mother was asked to nurse her toddler in private rather than in the school lobby; and a server at an Old Country Buffet in St. Paul, MN demanded that a mother cover up with a blanket while she nursed her six month old son. A recent study in the UK showed that half of all new mothers try to avoid breastfeeding in public because they feel uncomfortable.1 This is clearly a hot button issue that needs discussion.
- Have you ever been nervous to nurse or felt criticized for nursing in public?
- Are you tired of being told that breastfeeding should be “done in private” or “covered up”?
- Do you find it hypocritical that Victoria’s Secret can peddle sex in a push-up bra while a Playboy model admonishes breastfeeding mothers for their “overexposure”?
- Does it pain you when mothers rush to cover their children’s eyes when they see someone breastfeeding?
- Are you passionate about educating others about the values of breastfeeding and the right to breastfeed in public (covered or uncovered)?
If so, please join us for the “We Are Free to N.I.P.” Carnival of Nursing in Public. Your co-hosts for the Carnival are Dionna at Code Name: Mama and Paige at Baby Dust Diaries.2
Deadline: Wednesday, June 30. Fill out the webform (see details below) and email your submission to us by 11:59 p.m. Pacific time June 30: CodeNameMama {at} gmail {dot}com and BabyDustDiaries {at} gmail {dot} com
Carnival dates: July 5-9. Before you post, we will send you an email with a little blurb in html to paste into your submission that will introduce the carnival. We will also let you know what day (between July 5-9) to publish your post. Because you can publish on more than one day, you are welcome to submit more than one original post.
How Can You Participate?
1. Original Posts: Submit an original post on a Nursing in Public topic (see below for ideas) to be posted on your blog during the week of the Carnival (July 5-9, 2010). This should be a well-written, unpublished piece submitted by June 30th using the original post submission webform. You will receive instructions by email on when to post as well as footer information to include in your post. We will be grouping posts by topic to debut on different days throughout the week, so you may submit multiple posts and they will be listed on different days between July 5th – 9th.
2. Submit to the NIP Slideshow: We are looking for breastfeeding pictures to share in a special slideshow. Please submit your picture via email to CodeNameMama {at} gmail {dot} com and BabyDustDiaries {at} gmail {dot} com. You must own rights to share your pictures. Feel free to submit more than one.
3. Tweeting in Public: Submit your Tweet that shares a NIP tip or bit of encouragement in 140 characters or less using the Tweet submission webform. Be sure to include the #CarNIP hashtag and your Twitter ID in that 140 character count if you want us to credit you. And please, spread the word! Use hashtag #CarNIP to promote the carnival and share information about the rights of mothers and babies to eat in public.
4. Facebook Status Updates: During the week of the Carnival, we will share several short and sweet PSA’s about the benefits of breastfeeding and our legally protected right to nurse in public. Please share these Facebook ready PSA’s as status updates during the Carnival from July 5-9.
5. Crème de la Crème: As part of the Carnival we want to round up all the best of the best posts about Nursing in Public that are already out there. Submit a link to your favorite previously published post (by you or another blogger) using our suggestion form. The links will also be shared throughout the week of the Carnival. You can submit multiple posts.
Post Ideas & Guidelines You can write about any topic related to nursing in public, but here are a few ideas:
- The problem with defining discreet
- Your own experiences
- What you wish you’d known/advice for new mothers
- The right to NIP
- The sexualization of breasts & its consequences
- NIP as it relates to culture, societal norms, attitudes, etc.
- NIP while traveling
- NIP and religion
- NIP and babywearing
- Nursing past infancy in public
- What family and friends can do to support mothers who are NIP
_________________________
Grab the “We Are Free to N.I.P.” Badge for your site! 
Show the world that you support a mother’s right to breastfeed whenever and wherever the need arises. Our beautiful badge/logo is a watercolor painting done by Erika Hastings, a proud breastfeeding mama of three. Please visit Erika’s virtual art gallery to see more of her amazing work.
_________________________
Thanks to Janet Fraser for reminding us that some countries do not use the term “nurse” but “breastfeed” exclusively. We have created an alternate badge!
Use the following code to add the “I Breastfeed in Public” badge:
_________________________
Please do: Write well. Write on topic. Write in a positive way. This Carnival is not to criticize mothers who choose to use formula or to nurse with a cover, it is to educate others about the beauty of breastfeeding whenever and wherever the need arises. Feel free to be creative within the gentle confines of the Carnival structure. If you’re feeling so inspired, you could paint a picture, organize a photo essay, or write a poem, a scholarly article, or a book review instead of a regular blog post.
Please don’t: Please don’t use profanity of the sort that might be offensive to more sensitive readers or their children. Please don’t submit irrelevant or argumentative pieces, we want this Carnival to be positive.
Editors’ rights: We reserve the right to edit your piece or suggest edits to you. We reserve the right to courteously reject any submissions that are inappropriate for the Carnival.
If you don’t have a blog: Contact us about potentially finding you a host blog to guest post. Please write your piece well in advance of the deadline in that case, so we can match you up with someone suitable. But if you really have something amazing to write, why not start your own blog? If you want advice, we find Scribbit’s free Blogging in Pink ebook to be a very helpful and down-to-earth guide, for beginners on up.
If you have questions: Please leave a comment or contact us: CodeNameMama {at} gmail {dot} and BabyDustDiaries {at} gmail {dot} com
Stay in touch:
- Subscribe to our RSS feeds: Code Name: Mama’s feed and Baby Dust Diaries’ feed
- Follow us on Twitter: Code Name: Mama and Baby Dust Diaries (don’t forget the #CarNIP hashtag)
- Connect with us individually on Facebook: Code Name: Mama and Baby Dust Diaries
Remember: The purpose of this Carnival is to inform, advocate, and educate about nursing in public. It is not to be negative about mothers who formula feed or who choose to cover up when nursing in public. Carnivals are, of course, fun and a great way to meet like-minded bloggers, but this one can be so much more. Getting the word out about the our right to nurse in public and about normalizing breastfeeding will make a difference in the life of mothers and children everywhere.
- The study was done by bottle maker Avent ↩
- Special thanks to pshouseblog for sparking the idea for the Carnival, for contributing to the planning, and for helping solicit sponsors for our giveaways. ↩
31 Responses to:
"Carnival of Nursing in Public: Call for Submissions"
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What a GREAT idea! :)
What beautiful artwork! I wonder if we could get another button that says “Breastfeeding” instead of “Nursing”? Cheeky to ask, I know, but no one would ever get anywhere if we didn’t ask! In Australia we don’t say “nursing” we say “breastfeeding”. I have an “I Breastfeed” button on my blog but would love to use this lovely artwork as well. :)
Lovely carnival idea!
Let me check with Paige (she was the one responsible for creating our badge), but I don’t see a problem with it!
Will do Janet! That’s a great idea and we really want global participation and I’m sure Australia isn’t the only country that uses breastfeed.
Thanks for the idea! New badge coming soon!
We are organizing the “italian group” :-)
So I just e-mailed you about an idea for a post, but randomly felt like sharing that a family definitely had their kids look away, then left early from church when I nursed in the pews yesterday! It’s just sad to me that it makes people so upset to see something so natural and beautiful. Ugh. Anyway, defintely excited about this carnival!
That’s sad. Obviously they missed the part of the bible where Mary had to have nursed Jesus, since there was no formula back in the day…
As (happy) father of 3 breastfeeded (always and every where) boys I will help to spread the word…
I forgot to tell you that I am on the “giury” called to chose the best 5 NIP photos…. what do you think about our italianbreastfeedingmamas??? Have a look
http://www.genitorichannel.it/contest-semplicemente-ciuccio/guarda-le-foto
I’d love to participate, but I can’t think of something to say that I haven’t already said!
Surely there is something? None of the suggestions in the topic idea list sparked anything for you? Advice for new mamas? Your favorite NIP experience? Who supported you the most? What you think companies should do when an employee asks a bf’ing mother to cover up?
What was the most interesting/positive public place you nursed in?
Do it Bethany!!
Say it again! :)
I’d love to take part in this in whatever way I can, sadly I’m traveling back to the mainland during that time and don’t know what access to the internet will be like :( This is a really great idea though and I’m spreading the word!
Anna – you can write a post and schedule it in advance, that way you can still participate! If you’re not sure how to schedule posts in advance, I can link you to a tutorial. Thank you!!
Actually, that may work! I’m not sure what I’d write on, I just wrote about pumping to go out as a solution to NIP (not in favor of it, but showing why thats NOT the solution) the other day. I’ll brainstorm some, but I’d love a tutorial on scheduling posts in advance, I’m used to my LJ settings and blogger is a different kettle of fish so to speak.
Anna – try here: http://www.laurenwayne.com/p/tutorials.html#carnatpar
There should be a post specifically for scheduling posts in advance in blogger :)
And be sure to submit your past NIP posts to the “Creme de la Creme” webform! We are going to gather all NIP posts on one page as an easy reference guide.
I look forward to participating! Thanks to you and Paige for coming up with this!
I’d like to have that badge on my Facebook profile but I don’t know how to put it there. (embarrassed blush) Please educate me.
I think you could just right click the pic, save as, and then upload to FB from your own computer. If you do that, I would simply ask that you link back to either this post or to the Carnival page (which has the same info right now, but will eventually have more): http://codenamemama.com/carnival-nip/
Thank you!
I am really excited for this blog carnival and am planning to write a blog post for NIP. I also have a great public BF picture to submit compliments of my husband @shotinvancouver on twitter. Looking forward to reading other submissions!
Wonderful! I’ll join in.
I added a badge to my blog. Thanks for having them available! I tried writing a post for the “Nursing in Public” thing but ended up with something more about tandem nursing/nursing a toddler. If the kids give me time today, I’ll try again.
Melissa – we have another Carnival submission about tandem nursing (with baby & toddler) in public. If it has anything at all to do with nursing in public, submit it!
I may have managed one suited to nursing in public, in general. I’m waiting on my husband to proof-read it. Then I’ll email you both and leave it to you. (:
I’m in for this! Not entirely sure what I’ll write about yet; maybe my husband’s support of my nursing in public, and how important spousal support is….
BTW: Tried to post on my facebook the badge and it just shows up as a link.
I’m not sure if you can use the HTML to post as a pic on FB – you might have to actually save the pic to your desktop and then upload it to FB.
I’m happy you are joining us, and writing about your husband’s support would be great :)
I am so sad I only came across this right now…Is there anything I can do to help at this point? I do have some breastfeeding posts on my http://www.cafemom.com/home/livewell, and would love to write about my experiences with NIP.
Feel free to contact me. My info is at the bottom of my webpage (http://www.greenMOMteam.com)
Laila – don’t be sad :) Check out the new website for our breastfeeding advocacy resources – http://www.NursingFreedom.org
And there will be another Carnival! Stay tuned for details!
Just wanted to mention that I’ve never, ever had a problem NIP. I’ve never even heard a comment! I’ve really been surprised after reading about all of the people who do get criticized.
I actually just visited the Detroit and the Toledo zoo and nursed my 6 month old much of the time at both zoos while she was being carried around in our ERGO carrier! Not one peep from anyone!