Group Petitions To Bring Breastfeeding Back To Sesame Street

 What’s not to like about lovable furry old Grover and his pals Elmo, Zoe and Oscar the Grouch? If you’re a member of the robust movement that saucily refers to itself as NIP — “nursing in public,” natch — the answer is plenty.

 Coming on the heels of a well-attended national “nurse-in” that sought to normalize breast-feeding in Target stores, NIPers are now lowering the boom on Sesame Street. Apparently a generation ago, the kiddie show incorporated tasteful shots of nursing mothers who explained that “lots of mothers feed their babies this way” and that breast milk was “warm and natural.” More recently, however, when a baby gets fed on “The Street,” it seems to be courtesy of a bottle. Not that there’s anything wrong with bottle-feeding, the NIP moms are quick to point out. But bottle-feeding to the exclusion of breast-feeding, especially at a time when even the U.S. Surgeon General has called for more support for breast-feeding mothers?

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