Let me try to nip this one in the bud.

Breast-feeding, that is.

Nothing stirs up a fooferaw quite like the topic of nursing in public. The latest detonation can be found here and here at Inside Catholic. I posted on something similar five years ago.

Yes, Heather has nursed all four of our children, weaning the eldest three at roughly 12-13 months. So I'm not exactly an honest broker here.

But I think Hilary has an indisputable point in the second thread--modesty is also a virtue, making discretion essential. No one wants to see the mom unleashing her rambunctious milk zeppelins* as she sits nekkid from neck to navel. [As some deliberately-unhelpful breast feeding videos have depicted, sad to say.] At least I hope that's the case.

Even dad's not going to want it to be a public spectacle--I assure you. In any event, we are not supposed to scandalize our brethren, and it isn't asking to much to cover up.

In a spirit of compromise, it is also nice to refrain from asking a suitably discreet mother to take it elsewhere. My wife was asked whether she wanted to go to the bathroom to feed Madeleine.

Let me be blunt--how often do you have a snack on the toilet? Didn't think so.

There are two genuine goods in potential conflict here--modesty and motherhood. We can find a suitable compromise that honors both.

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* -- h/t to Ace for that incomparable turn of phrase.