Mayim Bialik Defends Public Breastfeeding

Mayim Bialik shocked onlookers when she began breastfeeding her then 3-year-old son, Fred, on a New York City subway train in 2012, but that didn't discourage her from continuing to nurse her toddler, and in a new interview, Bialik explains why she didn't let her critics' opinions get in the way of what was best for her son.

"I received a tremendous amount of backlash," Bialik said during an interview with Huffington Post Live on Monday, Feb. 24, referring to the incident.

Then, in an effort to explain her thought process, the former Blossom star said, "What I like to point out is that was the best way for that subway ride to be pleasant for everyone. 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.'"

However, despite her defending her choice, Bialik doesn't feel that there is anything wrong with nursing in public and continues to support doing so.

Since having children, Bialik and her ex-husband Michael Stone have two sons together (Miles Roosevelt Bialik Stone, 8, and Frederick Heschel Bialik Stone, 5), Bialik has become a fan of the Jewish parenting site Kveller, which she says provides her with "a safe place for me to speak up to the thousands and thousands of women who parent this way who get people harassing them all the time, and people looking at us funny in every department store or wherever else we nurse."

Although Bialik is no longer nursing, she's still an advocate of doing so -- regardless of the circumstances -- and doesn't feel that it should be something that a mother should hide. According to Bialik, mothers shouldn't cover up a baby nursing anymore than she should cover a baby drinking a bottle."

As for why mothers do cover themselves, Bialik seems to think that they are conforming to what society has taught them to believe.

"Our culture has a very, very bizarre relationship with breasts," she explained. "Breastfeeding is not a sexual act. 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."