DID I NEED TO KNOW THAT?!". Bodily functions is not a topic that people normally talk about. I can't really imagine someone filling a conversation with comments such as, "You wouldn't believe the turd I made yesterday!". But when it's about little children, talking about poop suddenly becomes normal.Back then I thought this would never become a normal topic. I saw no reason to be having conversations about when and what and how much my kid pooped. Only the highest form of house hen would stoop that low. Now months later it's actually a conscious effort not to talk about such things with friends. I know it sounds horrible, but I talk about it with my husband.
You see, baby's general mood and well-being depend so much on her bowel movements that it's actually a relevant thing to mention. It's as important as how much she slept and how much she ate.I do talk about diapers without a problem. I don't have a problem with mentioning that I'm going to change a diaper. Perhaps it's because a diaper is a like a piece of clothing. Saying that I'm changing a diaper is about as embarrassing as changing a kid's shirt. Mhh, or should diapers be like knickers? Perhaps it should be as bad to talk about a baby's diapers as a 10-year old girl's underpants. I'm not sure why but a diaper is still more like a shirt than underpants, despite how it's worn.
Another thing I don't like to talk about is weird rashes. Baby's embarrassing medical situations are something that shouldn't really be discussed in public. I remember reading a short news report about Brad Pitt and one of his adoptive children. He was saying that this child has the most horrible diaper rash and he and Angelina have tried just about everything to get rid of it but nothing has worked. People were commenting and recommending a cheap product called butt paste.
I'm not making this up. I was reading and I felt really sorry for that child. All those strangers discussing what should be smeared on her ass. Years later people will dig it up on the Internet and all her friends will know about the horrible rash on her butt. It's different when the rash is in a really visible place like the face - everyone who sees the baby can see it anyway, so I wouldn't really call it an embarrassing medical situation.There is one thing, however, that I talk about quite freely and I can often sense that other people find it embarrassing: breastfeeding. When it comes to breastfeeding, I don't think it's normal for people to be appalled. If they have a problem they just have to get over it. In Estonia breastfeeding is quite common but many people think it's icky and private. Breastfeeding in public has often been compared with pissing in public. I think that's just WRONG. What's so embarrassing about breastfeeding anyway? Boobs? Naked boobs? Then why is it normal to talk about going to a sauna? In sauna people are EVEN MORE NAKED!
Sometimes it feels like breastfeeding is seen as as much of a private issue as having sex. I've often heard that breastfeeding is the most natural thing to do. Perhaps this is why breastfeeding is a shameful thing to do - it's just TOO natural, just like sex. In our modern urbanized life it's polite to hide every indication that we are really just animals in clothing. Nudity, sex and breastfeeding is for animals, not for us humans. I don't really practice public breastfeeding. It's just too difficult to ignore all those years of knowing that it's not nice to show my boobs in public. It's weird though - I've been to nude mixed saunas with most of my male friends but I still go to the other room to breastfeed my kid when they're visiting. Talk about false shame!
So even though baby poop has become a normal household topic and I happily make people blush by talking about breastfeeding, I take consolation in knowing that things could be much much worse.
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