Breastfeeding in public

I can only remember feeding my three at home. Mostly sitting at the kitchen table. Why do mothers need to spend so much time in cafes? I'm a bit surprised they can afford to. I suppose people are wealthier this days. And expect more.

I used to feed mine all over the place, including on a train on the way to holiday. And that was a long time ago. No-one ever objected; not once. Not even uncomfortable looks.

My DD also feeds her 7 month old as and when she needs it. Her little boy was also tongue tied and found it difficult to suckle adequately so needed constant feeding.

The strangest thing I have seen is in a small coffee shop where a group of 4 mums all with young babies stood up in unison and produced 'aprons' which they popped over their heads and over the babies. This was much more obvious than my DD who was seated discretely feeding her little one with no fuss whatsoever.

In the 80s my baby was screaming for a feed, I was with my M-in-L who was a bit old fashioned and I dare not sit in public for fear of upsetting her. I rushed to a friend's house not far from the town but no one was in. I opened her garage door and sat on a stool. My dress was not suitable for feeding so M-in-L produced a pair of scissors from her pocket (used to snip at plants as she passed gardens!!!) I cut the dress down the front and fed my screaming baby. That was the last time I bothered to care about other people's reactions.

I would not even breast feed if my family were in the room because I was embarrassed but I think Greenfinch is right, they do not have a problem with it and so that's why they do it.

I was on a crowded train the other day where a toddler of about three was having a tantrum. The mother undid her blouse and exposed her entire breast for all to see while the little one latched on and sucked until she went to sleep. I think the mother was Polish so maybe that is the general practice in her culture. She certainly wasn't embarrassed but then why should she be. I didn't like it but that's my problem not hers.

jingle

jingl

x

Alright Glass! Leave off now!

Sorry I opened me flipping' gob!

Very true tiggypiro. I could do that.

Absent Sorry I don't go out of my way to please everyone. Like you do.

My DD is breast feeding her 7 week old, we have been out and about and she feeds where ever he needed to, cafe, shops, drs surgery, even assembly at school, where no one was any the wiser to what was happening.
He is fed before we leave the house jingle but if we waited until he was satisfied my DD would be house bound, the baby had a tongue tie which has now been snipped but he is still under the impression he needs to feed for long periods and often to be able to latch on sufficiently to be able to have a full feed. He dictates the fed times.
I would be surprised if anyone was aware she was feeding, she uses layers of clothing so nothing is visible, all very discrete.
I think there is anything more natural than a mother breast feeding, and I dont think a mother should feel she has to visit a loo to feed in private, we wouldn't want to eat in a loo so why should a baby.

You could always take your meal into the toilet to eat jingle as some mums are asked to do with their babies.

"Sanctimonious garbage" – jingle please don't mince your words; tell us what you really think.

A beautiful sight & usually done discreetly & sad to say apologetically. Much better than feeding in disgusting toilets as I sometimes had to do in the late 70s when I had to be out all day. However, I do draw the line at pulling one's large breast out & feeding a 2 year old when seated in a prominent position during a wedding ceremony. Though he is fully for breast-feeding & set up a prem baby milk donation scheme in Bath when I was overflowing with milk, it did put Mr Gad off his stroke when he was the Registrar.

Why would the lunch of any offended adult take priority over the lunch of a hungry baby? Or for that matter over the lunch of a family which just happens to have a Downs child?

We all perform many "biological functions" in public: breathing, walking, eating, drinking. There are some we choose to do in private: urinating, defecating, copulating. Are you seriously equating breast feeding with these latter three? And if so, why?

What is objectionable about "sucking fluid out of its mother?" I am intrigued by this. Do you object to the sight of the breasts? Most women feed discreetly and do not wave them about.

I really thought that the world had moved on from these Victorian attitudes. Obviously not!

I have always found that it is done very discreetly. I do not have a problem with that. I would rather that the baby was quiet and feeding than screaming because he/she is hungry.

My gast is truly flabbered jingle. We are all animals. Babies have the right to be fed as well as others. I find the sight of a mother breast feeding her infant a lovely sight. You could turn the other way of course.

There are narrow minded and unenlightened people who also object to a person, child or adult, with learning disabilities and eating problems having their meal in public.

A local landlord asked one child with Down Syndrome to turn the child round because it was offensive to others eating. Disgusting. Needless to say the family left along with 40 or so builders from a local building site who had their two main meals a day there. They lost a lot of custom that day and for the next year.

You are being deliberately obtuse now.

Sucking fluid (its total food) is how baby mammals survive. I think that counts as eating. Anyway, you could call it drinking instead.

Splitting hairs and being prudish is all that ugh attitude is.

So long as they don't do it at lunchtime Grannylin. That's fine. Homestart is excellent. Well done to you.

It's not eating. It's sucking a fluid out of its mother.

I love to see lambs etc. in fields. (already mentioned that. Read the post properly)

I loved to see my grandsons feeding. At home. Either theirs or mine. Very sweet.

Well I hope jingl that you never come into the M&S cafe where I regularly go with the Mum I am supporting through Homestart. She is breastfeeding triplets (alternates 2 x breast 1 on a bottle) and it's her treat of the week.The babies feed at 2hourly intervals so very difficult to plan any trip which doesn't involve a feed.Other than the odd starchy look from some matron most people in the cafe are clamouring to chat or help.

Or kittens, or puppies, or piglets?

Objecting to baby mammals eating in public is, quite simply, silly.

Do you object to seeing lambs and calves suckling too, jings, and if so, why? We are mammals too.