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My understanding of
the need to ban food and drink in a museum setting is primarily the possibility
of crumbs and spills attracting pests. There is no way a nursing mother could do
this. Milk flow is triggered by the baby's suction, and it stops when the baby
stops. Breast milk doesn't generally shoot across the
room.
I haven't got children of my
own, but everybody I know who's breast-fed has told me tales of, yes,
breast-milk squirting across the room by accident. It can and does happen. Also recently-fed babies
do have a tendency to, uh, "spit up" with no warning at all. And I've
seen some serious distance and velocity come out of the tiny
things. Don't
misunderstand me: I'm not arguing for or against banning babies or
breast-feeding, merely offering a little anecdotal information.