Breastfeeding in public - your thoughts please...

[Mum of 3 + 2 stepkids]

Still, although we are entitled to our opinions this is a bfing site for anyone and if people feel they can't come here for help because of opinions of others then it shouldn't be said!!!

Kate x

[rinajack]

You just never know do you.  My DS is 8mo and I feel physically ill at the thought of not BFing him at some point.  Maybe I won't still feel that way at 2, maybe I will. Maybe I will still feel that way at 8 (I doubt it).  But you just never know!

[Jocasta]

You just never know do you.  My DS is 8mo and I feel physically ill at the thought of not BFing him at some point.  Maybe I won't still feel that way at 2, maybe I will. Maybe I will still feel that way at 8 (I doubt it).  But you just never know!

This is how I feel about Mae!  I think this is primarily what has brought about my change of opinion about full term breast feeding. 

I'm going out tomorrow night for a birthday meal with DH and have been expressing milk so that MIL can look after Mae.  I tried her with her first bottle yesterday just because I needed to know that she would actually take one.  She wolfed it down and I felt sick lol!  I actually had a momentary sense of betrayal - unbelieveable huh?

[rinajack]

I do understand, although Hugh ISNT keen on the bottle, and whilst that could cause problems if I return to work soon, it kind of makes me happy too LOL

[-kgmf123-]

I have been thinking about this - although I have never had any adverse comments about bf my baby, I wonder if I would've received any from bf a toddler. My dd has only just self weaned at 2.5, from about 15 months she has fed morning and occasionally at night so we've never had to bf in public from 12+ months. I think I would've been much more self conscious, it really isn't the norm in the uk to bf beyond 12+ months or at least not where I live.

[EllenS]

Good news - I just bf dd (15 mos) on a plane on the way down to my parent's house.  Of the few people who noticed, the biggest reaction I got was one man who had been admiring dd and then said "oh, sorry, sorry" when he realized what he was looking at.

Everybody else on the plane was just relieved the meltdown stopped and didn't care why.  We are down to 2 a day (weaning because of current pg) and I have to confess I am still happy when she asks for "mommy milks" a couple of times before she'll take her sippy or bottle, and feel so rejected when she takes one side and dramatically refuses the other.

[Mum of 3 + 2 stepkids]

I thought you was going to say admiring you boobs lol, what am i like....

Don't answer that

Kate x

[Jocasta]

LMAO! 

Kat, you are a champ!  I remember you saying that you didn't get all fuzzy about breast feeding like some mums (myself included ), so to stick it out for as long as you did and let your DD self-wean, you're my hero

[Lilachawk]

I am incredibly proud to breast feed especially as I was not allowed to breast feed my daughter and I don't give two hoots about what people may or may not think about me feeding my son in a public place, he is 7 weeks old and so far I have fed him in the registrars office while we were registering his birth, in fount of my father in law (but he is a firm believer in you feed a hungry baby where ever you are regardless of what other may or may not think), in the lobby of my husbands place of work, in supermarket cafe's, in the car (while parked naturally!), toddler group, a public library, pre-school and a hospital waiting room. I have not once had a negative reaction or to be honest any reaction from the people around me, I would think that most of the time people probably don't know what I am doing and if anybody asked me not to feed my son god help them as I don't know if I could keep a control of myself although I do admit I was a little concerned in the library as there was a group of teen aged boys right next to me misbehaving and ended up getting kicked out by the staff but i don't think the boys realized what i was doing think they just thought i was holding the baby. On the poll I answered younger males as it's not that they would have a problem with it as such more that they feel uncomfortable and don't know where to put there eyes, I guess the same can be true of older generation males but my experience has been that if they are fathers themselves chances are there wives breast fed so they have seen it before and understand a hungry baby needs feeding. I also would add that I hate the 'feeding rooms' some places provide, I apricate that they are a god send to some but I find it terribly boring being shut up in a small room alone for up to 40 mins and if I have my daughter with me too, well she would be climbing the walls with boredom!

[rinajack]

In the parents rooms in Aus, there is usually a play area for the kids too, so instead of going in one of the private BF rooms, I would sit in the parents room but near the play area so Zara can play - it is easier for me to do this if DH is not with us, because otherwise she would run off...but if DH is there, we would rather go out for coffee when I need to BF

[Renee's mommy]

Hello there!
I EBF my LO, and I am very proud of it..
It is just that it is not easy for me to BF in public, since my LO requires a very quiet place to nurse. If I would do it in public she would move so much trying to see everything and grab everything, that I would end up totally exposed... so I don't really do it, I am just too worried waiting for her to start moving all around.
I must say that at the times she has collapsed by hunger, I have feed her in the bathroom of restaurants, were I can uncover myself without worrying who may see me. It  is not conformtable and I have to do it standing, since I really don't think it is a nice place to do it, but I do it long enough to stop her from crying, and then I go to my car to continue with it.
Before I had my LO, I must admit, I was not so sympathetic of woman BF in public.
Now I see it totally different...
What I'd like to add is that I really feel criticized around for BF. I totally don't see why. I feel that I am doing what is best, but the only things I listen around are: are you STILL BF? That is why she doesn't sleep through the night, your milk is not "heavy" enough? Why don't you start on formula at night? How long do you plan to BF, like forever? Aren't 7 months too much, your milk is useless for her now...you have become your baby's slave... that is why you can not separate yourself from your baby... and so on and so on...
Like you said... everyone is entitled to its own opinion, but why try to change mine?

[EllenS]

What horrible things to say!  I'm so sorry you have to hear stuff like that.

One thing that has not come up on this thread is, other people's children.  This was an issue for me last summer at the family beach house - one of my nephews (5 at the time) was extremely curious about me bfing dd, ("what's she doing?"  "she's having milk."  "can I see?"  "Umm.....no").  I'm really not sure about my place in educating other people's little boys, especially at that age.  I just started bfing in our room to avoid the issue.

[Renee's mommy]

Oh yes... My DH says that is when other people children get to have new parents... (because other people start lecturing them)
Once I saw my SIL remove the blanket from a friend of hers, which she was covering while she was BF, to show her 8 years old kid (my SIL's) the miracle of BF. I don't know how her friend took it. I just know I would slap her right in her hand... It is such a personal choice to do this, and it is hard to tell other people how to handle their kids.

[EllenS]

Yes, especially at that age range where they're old enough to know about some body parts being private,  but not old/mature enough to understand the difference between bf and just "showing your boobs".

Like, I wouldn't care if a lo (not mine) of either gender saw me bf uncovered under the age of ....maybe...three?  And of course, at a certain age they would not ASK.

Then again, I guess some NEVER get mature enough to know the diff, or we wouldn't have this thread, eh?

[Erin (redstarfalling)]

I've never hid it from other people's kids, if I was nursing in the same room.  I figure if I can nurse in front of the parents, then I can nurse in front of the kids, and it just encourages people to see it as a normal, natural thing to do.  I think if I had wanted to keep covered and a child came up to me to uncover me, I'd nicely ask them not to touch because it would disturb the baby.