Why does that matter to anyone but Beyonce and her baby girl, Blue Ivy? There are two reasons:
Nursing mothers are engaged in what seems like an endless campaign to make public breastfeeding as common and accepted as public bottle-feeding -- or public sandwich-eating, for that matter. They've gathered at recent "nurse-ins" at Target stores and at Facebook headquarters to protest perceived mistreatment of nursing moms.
Black women in the United States breastfeed their babies at lower rates than other women do -- missing out on potential health benefits for themselves and their babies. Doctors recommend all babies get breast milk exclusively for six months and continue nursing for at least another six months. The American Academy of Pediatrics just updated and strengthened its guidelines urging all mothers to try breastfeeding.
Beyonce could help both causes. "By bringing breastfeeding into the mainstream, Beyonce can help break down barriers," one doctor tells ABC News.
When the singer fed her baby in a restaurant, she became "a breastfeeding role model without even saying a word," says Elita Kalma, a certified lactation consultant and librarian who promotes breastfeeding among black women at her blog Blacktating. A few weeks ago, Kalma wrote that if Beyonce became a nursing mom, it would be a "black lactivist's" dream.
Kalma, who lives in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and is nursing her second child, said in an email: "So many young black women look up to Beyonce and emulate her and want to be her that this will for sure promote breastfeeding in the black community."
Beyonce is getting a lot of praise for her behavior on Twitter. But some people are calling her "gross," Kalma says: "That just shows we've still got a long way to go."
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