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She's an anthropology professor. I think her students should have been able to handle it!

This is my alma mater, which is quite liberal. I wonder if it would have been an issue if not for the student journos. Regardless, I don't think a sick baby should be in the classroom, BF or no BF.

I might be missing something, but couldn't she have given the baby a bottle of breastmilk instead of nursing it?

That would have avoided the controversy and the baby would have been fed.

@Maysprout: I agree.

I wouldn't bring a sick baby to class, but it seems like she didn't have any other option since she a) is single b) couldn't take her daughter to daycare because she was sick. I commend her for her ability to multitask. She didn't have to cancel class--which would have to be made up and that affects not just her but all of her students, too.

I breastfeed in public often and no one sees any nipple--I bet no one in her class saw that. I don't think it's a big deal because everyone got what they needed in the end: she taught her class, the students learned, and a sick baby ate. The students or any one on administration who has a problem with it should take it up with the school for their lack of services/benefits in situations like the professor's.

I guess I'm a little less sympathetic in this situation because as work situations go, academia is pretty flexible. Sucks to miss your first day of class, yes, but make the lecture available to your students electronically and get back on track next time with a back-up plan in place.

As for AU providing back-up childcare, I don't quite get how that would work. If your child is too sick for their regular daycare, they are probably too sick for any kind of daycare. It seems like a very expensive proposition unless you're a very large school (AU is not) that will actually see the service used regularly.

This really doesn't bother me. There were several women in different college classes I took that brought their infants and breastfed them during class. I guess you could make the argument that there's a difference between students doing this and professors doing this, but I was a lit major so all the classes were very much discussion-based and reliant on student participation (i.e. not a lecture). It reallly didn't bother me when classmates breastfed while participating in class discussions, so I doubt it would bother me if a professor did it.

I'd have been pissed if a professor missed the first day of class. You don't get a refund for that, and you're paying something like $100 per class. Unlike other businesses, you can't just reschedule a meeting or have someone cover for you or take a day off and make up the time later.

And some places do offer sick child care. Mother's miss work disproportionately when their children are sick, and so it's not really fair to students of female professors "sorry, you just won't have all the classes you are paying for."

Granted, I got my master's in anthropology and watched videos of half naked women biting the heads off of chickens, read books on gang rape, and interviewed people at a homeless shelter...so yeah, seeing someone breastfeed wouldn't have phased me.

I think it's absolutely ridiculous. If you can't find care, I'm sorry but you have to send in your syllabus and take a day off. A friend of mine is a professor, had a sick child and has to miss her first three days of classes at her college. I am pro breastfeeding, as well but I do not want to watch my professor breastfeed her child while I am trying to learn from her.

I also don't think it's appropriate to bring your child to class with you! I don't bring my child to work with me because she would be distracting. Does this professor allow her students to bring their children to class with them?

II wouldn't mind taking a class where the professor is breastfeeding, and I wouldn't mind breastfeeding in class if I had to. I do not see anything wrong with it. IMO people are too hypersensitive.

breastfeeding is totally normal/natural to me and I don't think any limitations should be set on it whatsoever.

Besides, I am sure she used a cover.

My former employer used to provide back up child care by pooling services with another company that provided care. Granted, it was more for days when daycare was closed, like some Jewish holidays and the exchange was open, but in a pinch, you could also take your sick child there if you had a meeting for a short period of time. Not what I would have done, but still an option.

I agree with all the PP that think this was inappropriate. She shouldn't have brought her sick child to class. I couldn't (and wouldn't) take my LO to work when I was working. It's not professional. I'm super pro-bf and bf my own daughter all around town but I wouldn't start bf in the middle of a mtg or interview.

Hmm... I'm a professor, and no, I wouldn't do this while teaching my students... but I also don't want to condemn this woman for choosing to do it. I wasn't able to breastfeed exclusively, but I have plenty of colleagues who breastfed discretely while in the audience at talks, and it was never a big deal. (Actually, I doubt anybody even noticed.)

I know a dog isn't quite the same but I remember when I was in grad school. It was review before final and the prof brought his dogs in. Well apparently one wasn't feeling good cause it pooped in class. Again this is normal for dogs but not appropriate. Even if the dogs were completely well behaved it isn't appropriate.

I don't think it's appropriate to bring a child to a professional workplace, but it wouldn't bother me if I was a student in that classroom.