Mayim Bialik defends public breastfeeding

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 26 (UPI) -- Actress and parenting activist Mayim Bialik spoke up in defense of her attachment parenting style, including her decision to breastfeed her son in public.

The Big Bang Theory star was on the receiving end of a wave of backlash in 2011, when she posted a picture of herself on a New York City subway, nursing her then-3-year-old son Fred.

"What I like to point out is that was the best way for that subway ride to be pleasant for everyone," she said, explaining the moment as a need to pacify her child. "It was the end of a very long day."

"That was not a weak moment of parenting but a conscious decision of, 'I have the best way to make this child happy and content right now,'" she said.

Bialik said any negative reaction to her feeding her child in public was a result of our culture's "very, very bizarre relationship with breasts."

"Breastfeeding is not a sexual act," she said. "It's an intimate act, and that makes some people uncomfortable, but it's completely normal to have all of the human hormones that are released when you breastfeed regulating your relationship with your child."

"When I was nursing, I didn't feel the need to be immodest, but I also feel like that's going to vary from woman to woman," she continued. "I would try to be absolutely respectful and conscious of the community I was in. But I don't believe you need to cover up a baby eating anymore than you need to cover a baby drinking a bottle."

[HuffPost Live]