Breast feeding in public?

Question

I was listening to a radio show where they had a phone in about peoples thoughts on breast feeding in public. One lady said she was feeding her baby in a quiet corner of a restaurant when a guy approached her and said he was disgusted and that she should go to the toilet to feed the baby. The lady later went over to the guy, picked up his plate and told him he should take it to the toilet to eat his food there! I thought that was classic because I personally think women should be able to feed their babies as and where they need to but what are your thoughts?

Answer 1

its natural! nothing wrong with it! if other people have a problem then they should leave the room/area!

Answer 2

If you allowed your baby to cry in the restaurant out of hunger someone would complain!

A woman should be able to feed her hungry child ANYWHERE, train, bus, park, home, on top of a mountain!

Although the way society is going, there will always be law suits and complaints about breast feeding in public, this is NOT the fault of the woman nor the baby but the fault of our over sexualized world we live in.

Maybe next time you are in a restaurant ask the ‘man’ starring at you funny while nursing to hold your screaming baby while you can eat, and maybe he would see how you felt, even for a moment.

This argument is a vicious cycle of hared towards breast, woman, children and sexuality (or lack there of). Do what you know and what feels right, and tell people off gently for being arrogant, ill-informed gnats.

Have a beautiful day!

Answer 3

This is a debate that will run and run. It still amazes me that people have a problem with breastfeeding. My son is 9 and he can go to any number of shops and have access to newspapers with topless women plastered all over them yet we spend our time complaining about a woman using her breasts for what they are intended. I fed my baby whenever he needed it no matter where I was and there is no way I was going to sit in a dirty toilet smelling other peoples s**t while feeding my son. If people don't like it they should look away. I bet this man that complained didn't have a problem with men having their shirts off in the summer and young girls wearing next to nothing, or page 3 for that matter. I'd have thrown his dinner in his lap so he's lucky it wasn't me he confronted!!

Answer 4

I heard that Radio 2 programme. Surprisingly there was also a woman on there who thought it was wrong to breastfeed in public too!
Considering I would not even use most public toilets for their original use, I think it is wholly inapprpriate for babies when being fed and nurished.
Personally most mothers I know who have breastfed are able to do so in a way that maintains their own dignity and respects people around them.
I wonder if some of the people who are offended to see the female form being used in a way that nature intends feel this way beecause they are used to seeing the image of the sexualised female body being exploited in the media.

Answer 5

I think it's totally natural, and I plan on breast feeding. However, I do plan on doing it discreetly just becuase the thought of strangers seeing my breast is not an enjoyable one to me. But none the less, I think I would have done the same thing that mom did, only I would have told him where to shove the plate as soon as he was done eating at the toilet!!
Some people are so rude and so careless with babies!!!

Answer 6

I totally agree with you. Breastfeeding is the most natural thing in the world (apart from breathing obviously).

I think it's wrong that women are expected to take their babies to rooms that are sometimes set aside (generally in toilets!!!).

Everyone is entitled to be fed in a resaurant & that includes babies by whatever means. I'm sure the guy would also complain if the mother left the baby to cry until she finished her meal, so she could take the baby elsewhere to feed him/her

There,s Nothing Wrong At All!!!

Answer 7

I think it's horrible when a breast feeding mother is looked down on for feeding her baby in public. Public breast feeding is not in any way offensive or sexual, the people who have a problem with it are the ones with a hang up, not the people who are doing it. Why should mums be expected to hide away with their babies in dingy little rooms like a shameful secret? Feeding and nourishing your baby should be something celebrated and to be proud of, no matter how you do it.

I've had six children, five who have survived and breastfed. With three of my babies I returned to work while they were still breastfeeding, and because my work was supportive and encouraging of breastfeeding mothers, I was able to take my babies to work with me and keep feeding them. With my first baby, I worked at a reception desk in a health service, and it was common for me to be nursing my baby with one hand and fielding phone calls or over the counter requests with the other hand. Often people didn't even realise that there was a little baby laying on my lap with her head under my jumper, until she took herself off and turned around to smile at them!

Answer 8

I think that would have been one of the funniest moments ever - wish I had been there.

I'm a father and my kids were breast fed by their mum, sometimes in public places, so I am aware that it can be done without people even noticing that it is happening.
Use of a blanket and easily adjusted clothing usually would ensure that people do not even see what is going on.
I've been in place where people breast fed in public and haven't even realised it was happening - even when I had been sitting very close to them - until after they sat the baby up to rub their back.
The baby shouldn't have to eat in the toilet.

Answer 9

I agree with the lady, she must choose the quite corner of restorant for a reason, not in the public bench or somewhere open. It would be hard enough for woman to decide breastfeeding the baby in a public place without humiliation like that. I would never consider breastfeeding baby in the toilet for hygenic reason. Unfortunately a lot of idiots like that guy (hopefully not many).

Answer 10

What an idiot. I think its each individuals right to breast feed where and when the baby demands it. Have to put my hands up and admit that i didnt do it in public though because i just found it to uncomfortable getting my boobs out in public. It made me uptight and my wee yin couldnt get any milk because i was so anxious, but that was my problem and sometimes i feel i let other breastfeeding mothers down because of my own insecurities.

Answer 11

As long as it's done discreatly I would say no one could object as a baby asks for food when they are ready to eat not when it's convenient and to answer scottyinslomo most people go to a resteraunt to eat why is a baby any different.In Africa( and I have a wife and child in Africa and will soon be joining them) it's the most natural thing in the world but over there breasts are FOR feeding babies and NOT sex toys which a lot of westerners view them as.Over here people seem to view everything in a sexual way which when you think that feeding a baby is the most natural thing in the world it is the view of the anti feeding brigade(anti everything) which seems un-natural.