Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Jenna Wolfe may still be on maternity leave, but the new mom came back to the Today show this morning to highlight a topic close to her heart.
The NBC correspondent, who welcomed her first child, daughter Harper Estelle Wolfeld, in late August with partner Stephanie Gosk, opted to wear a hidden camera and breast-feed in public in order to see people's reaction to the polarizing topic.
Wolfe begins by noting that over 10,000 people responded to the poll posted on Today.com asking their sentiments towards breast-feeding in public, with 38 percent saying it's a nonissue, 9 percent responding that they feel empowered and another 9 percent saying it makes them feel embarrassed.
The proud parent then hit up various public places in NYC, including the Plaza Hotel, famous toy haven FAO Schwartz, a fancy department store and the Apple shop, where she breast-fed Harper at all the busy locations.
So how did the public react?
Wolfe was able to breast-feed her baby at each setting without any interruptions with the exception of the Apple store in midtown Manhattan, where an employee politely told Wolfe that there was a more private room available in case she would like to move (Jenna graciously accepted the offer).
"Before I had a child I had no idea breastfeeding could be such an emotional topic," she explains. "If I've learned anything so far it's that while it's not always easy, most of us moms are just doing our best."
Wolfe isn't the first public figure to bring attention breast-feeding.
The Big Bang Theory star Mayim Bialik, who has been an outspoken proponent of "attachment parenting," found herself on the receiving end of rampant criticism after revealing in her book, Beyond the Sling, that she breastfed her 4-year-old son.
And in June, British TV presenter Beverley Turner penned a piece for the Telegraph begging Kate Middleton to breast-feed Prince George in an effort to inspire other women to do so after new statistics showed breast-feeding figures have fallen for the first time in England in almost a decade.
"We also need women with power and influence to get their milky bosoms out and feed smiling in paparazzi pictures," she wrote. "Celebrity is depressingly powerful in dictating trends."
What do you think of Jenna's experiment? Tell us in the comments!
(E! and NBC are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)