Distractions During Mass

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So much of this issue is cultural. For years no one breastfed babies in America. Now, everyone is going back to this most natural way to feed a child BUT society is still catching up. As more and more women feed in public places, more and more it will not be seen as different, immodest or strange. I bet the first time people saw someone feeding a baby a bottle they stared and thought, “what the heck is she doing”.
 
Breast-feeding is a nature act.
I see most every kind of distraction as the devil trying to remove our focus.
When a distraction comes along, I try to double down on my focus.
 
Loud-living-dogma said:
Not to mention, let’s say a woman is blessed with many children. Let’s say, ten. For how many years is this mom going to have to tromp back and forth, or always sit in the cry room, etc? You think the dad can handle all the rest of the bambinos by himself? For years?
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Yes.

Breastfeeding is not immodest. It just isn’t. Is it theoretically possible, somewhere, that there is someone out there nursing a baby AT a total stranger? Sure, I guess. Many things are possible. But most of us are just trying to feed our babies.

I think it’s a sign of pro-death culture that we heap more and more responsibilities on mothers and young babies, than accepting our own responsibilities to not stare, or to put up with a not-perfect environment all of the time. My big kids do better if we sit up close. My baby will probably need to eat during Mass because he’s still very small. I do what I can within reason to maintain order and decorum, but they’re still kids and they’re going to be kids, not little adults. And I’m there because I know and love Jesus, and I want my kids to, too.
 
Whoa!! I’ve never seen, or heard of this happening. I didn’t think anyone would even consider breastfeeding in church - let alone during Mass!
 
MockSock said:
Whoa!! I’ve never seen, or heard of this happening. I didn’t think anyone would even consider breastfeeding in church - let alone during Mass!
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I can pretty much guarantee lots of moms have been feeding their babies at Mass, even when you’ve been there. But if you are minding your own business and they’re being normal moms, no, you probably wouldn’t notice, unless you were sitting right there and knew what to look for (but why would you, since it isn’t your business?)
 
Well, let’s think about this. On average newborns nurse every 2 hours beginning of feed to beginning of feed and take 30 minutes to eat. So if Mass is at 10 am, I would feed the baby at a little past 9 so at a little past 9:30 we can load everyone up and drive to church. Mass at our church is normally 60 to 70 minutes. So if my baby is directly on average and everything falls 100% in line 100% of the time my baby will only get hungry at the end of Mass.

But babies have a tendency to not run like clockwork. So if it’s a day where she’ll only go 90 minutes between feeds, she’s going to get hungry during Mass. Should the newborn have to go hungry? Should mothers of babies not come to Mass?
 
You know even our Blessed Mother breast fed our Lord and Saviour. Our Parish priest even made an announcement concerning breast feeding during mass. He said that he does not want anyone missing out on the holy sacrifice of the mass and that the breast feeding mommies should never let their infants go hungry and that as long as they are covered up to breast feed any where in the church front row back row wherever and any one who had a problem with it should probably get over their hangup. In fact there was a young mother who was breast feeding her new baby very discreetly about 5 rows back and some woman who is always trying to tell everyone what to do came over to the young mother telling her that was not the proper place well when Father saw the mother about to step out from where she was sitting he told her to stay seated she was doing nothing wrong and if anyone else had a problem with it get over it then he lightly shook the baby’s tiny hand and said who knows he could be a future priest her husband whispered thank you Father I saw this because I was sitting next to the couple
 
I don’t think it’s distracting at all. I breast fed my kids, and they’ve breast fed all their kids. I think the way many women dress today, including at Mass, wearing low cut dresses and blouses, and super short hems, are much more distracting than a covered breast-feeding mother of a newborn to older baby.
 
Of course I’m not suggesting that women shouldn’t come to Mass. They could go out of the church to breastfeed though. I would be very distracted if a woman next to me got her breasts out during Mass. I would likely be unable to pray, and may have sinful thoughts due to it.

How do people make a massive deal about head coverings, and then get their boobs out?!?!
 
Well, I think it’s inappropriate during Mass. Sorry, but you can’t change my mind about that.

Maybe I’m too rigid.
 
If the baby takes 20 to 30 minutes to eat and I go out halfway through the Mass, I’ll miss the Eucharist week after week.

Also, the OP clearly refers to women who are covering their breasts and babies. We are not referring to a situation where someone is waving their breast around. You see less of my skin when I breastfeed with a cover than when I’m walking around church normally.
 
Hmmm…don’t we all wish we were as mature as some of the respondents? The “mature thing” is to take the child into a modest environment and not tempt anything or anyone or cause any doubt. That’s what is mature and far less attention-drawing as the act…or this discussion.
 
MaryK111956 said:
Are there other people who feel that breastfeeding during Mass is a real distraction, especially when the Mom is sitting near the front row? I realize that they try to " cover up", but this just seems in very poor judgement, considering that the priests and young altar boys could have a problem with it. Yes, it is natural and all, but what ever happened to modesty and being a good role model for children?
Why can’t young Moms sit at the back or go to the women’s lounge to breastfeed? I’m just asking here, not trying to be mean.
Thank you!
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I can’t think of a better way to be a good role model for children then breastfeeding an infant in their presence.

The way we feel about public breastfeeding is very much influenced by culture. Some cultures are more comfortable with this than others.

I am not at all distracted by a breastfeeding mother during Mass. Perhaps that is because I, for the last 16 years of my life, have been a breastfeeding mother.

It seems that you are offended by the very idea of breastfeeding in Mass. Am I right in understanding that you consider the very act immodest, as opposed to anything that you can actually see?

There are many possibilities for distraction during Mass. It can be distracting for a mother to have to come in and out of the church in order to feed her baby outside. At my parish, a constant distraction is the sound of traffic going by. Since we are near a fire station, we have to deal with the frequent sounds of sirens. This is quite distracting.

Wouldn’t you rather deal with a mother discreetly nursing her baby and the sound of the baby wailing in hunger?

I’m so sorry that you feel this way. I think that you need to broaden your perspective and understand that mothers in cultures all over the world have been nursing their babies in public, including during Mass and other sacred events, for as long as those events have existed. This does not detract from our worship anymore then coughing, dealing with knee pain, helping a fellow parishioner find his place in the Missal, or any number of other mundane occurrences during the Mass. We are human beings and our worship this sidee of Heaven will never be perfect.

Pray for those who distract you and I will pray for you.
 
Once again, folks - focus on the Mass, not what others are doing or not doing. There is no need to be looking around to see what others are doing.
 
MaryK111956 said:
Are there other people who feel that breastfeeding during Mass is a real distraction, especially when the Mom is sitting near the front row?
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Maybe some people are distracted.

Not me.

Women’s lounge? I know of some newer churches that have what could perhaps be called a “women’s lounge” but most restrooms I’ve seen have no place to sit other than a toilet.
 
By women’s lounge do you mean restroom, because ewww who wants to eat their meal in a restroom?

I personally don’t find breastfeeding to be immodest, nor do I believe that breastfeeding in public is not being a good role model for children! Women breastfeeding is a natural function and should not be looked at as anything other than that. It shouldn’t be a problem for young boys or priests to witness it, unless they are distorting it into something sexual. Most mothers that I see breastfeeding in church are quite modest and usually are covered unless the child doesn’t tolerate the covering (which is also totally understandable).
 
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Maybe you need to get over your hangups about a mother innocently feeding her baby at Mass while being covered up. You keep saying “with her boobs out”, yet never in my life have I seen anyone nursing their baby with “their boobs out”, and I’m 71 and taught natural childbirth in my younger years. Yet you’re not complaining about all the women who come to mass with their “boobs” actually showing while wearing low cut clothing. Sorry, I don’t get what your problem is here.
 
MockSock said:
Of course I’m not suggesting that women shouldn’t come to Mass. They could go out of the church to breastfeed though. I would be very distracted if a woman next to me got her breasts out during Mass. I would likely be unable to pray, and may have sinful thoughts due to it.

How do people make a massive deal about head coverings, and then get their boobs out?!?!
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Well, that’s certainly a crude way to put it.
If you are distracted or having sinful thoughts about a mother feeding her baby, you should step out.
 
It’s ridiculous to suggest that the “mature” thing is for the breastfeeding mother to leave—she’s not in any way being immodest.

It’s the people who find this distracting or immodest who need a little lesson in maturity.
 
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