Breast feeding

[irene.tommy]

What is your opinion on women that breast feed their babies in public?  Is it right or should it be done discreedly?

[merc1_clocks]

 My opinion...nowt wrong with it...it can be done so discreetly as to go completely unnoticed - just saying 

[023mjc]

I don't want to argue so this will be my last post on this subject.

You wern't there. She got her breast out, not partly but completely. Every one saw it, and I certainly did not peer at it. I don't like what you are implying.

The trouble is, I've said something that lots of people think, but don't dare say for fear of upsetting the PC brigade.

[kiss*my*pixel]

Perfectly put, Merc

[ginap.123]

See loads of mums who want to feed in my office. The majority are discreet and just get on with it but you'll always get the ones who, in my mind, just want to prove a point and just unbutton & flop the boob out. I'm all for feeding baby but am offended that they don't consider other peoples feelings when it is so unneccessary to be such an exhibitionist about it.

[bankhaunter]

I don't think there is anything wrong with it, after all what's there to see?

As for some women possibly being exhibitionist, if others took no notice, there would be little point.

[ginap.123]

Hard to miss when you're sitting at a desk at eye level with a boob. Just a little draped shawl (would be nice to snuggle baby in as well) would be so much more discreet.

[bankhaunter]

So what, it's not like no one has seen one before, is it really that big a deal?

[5129frederick]

I'm very much in agreement with you on that point.  Discretion being the operative word here.  What is wrong with breast feeding a baby in the Baby changing room?  I dont particularly like seeing it being done in public.  Women activists - attention seekers by any other name, make a big song and dance about it being natural and necessary.  So is changing a baby's nappy, but you don't plonk it on the table for all to see - doh!  We all know a mother's milk is the right temperature and chemical makeup, but if you know you're going to be in a public place near a baby's feeding time, what the hell is wrong with feeding it from a bottle?!  Problem solved!  For the record, not all babies take to breast feeding.

[kiss*my*pixel]

Frederick - you eat your meal at a table with people, don't you? That is perfectly acceptable. So a baby should be permitted to have it's meal at any table. What if I were to say to you that you are chewing your food in a way that is unacceptable to me, and I would like you to go into the toilet to finish your meal, far away from me, because I find you offensive. How would you react to that?

I would not be happy with you pooping in full view, any more than a baby's nappy being changed in full view - neither is acceptable.

Why do you think a mother feeding her baby should hide herself away, as though it is something to be ashamed of? We are living in the 21st Century here, not the Dark Ages.

"For the record, not all babies take to breastfeeding" - what the flippin' hec does that have to do with the argument?

what the hell is wrong with feeding it from a bottle - a breastfed baby does not necessarily take to feeding from a bottle. Formula milk and breast milk are different, bottle feeding (even if it is expressed breast milk) requires an entirely different technique from baby.

[saasher2012]

I think these so called feeding & changing rooms always look like a clinical toilet, a mother should be able to feed her baby & have a drink & something to eat if she wants as well. How many eating places have a room set aside for this purpose, not many im sure, I do understand that some are offended by this natural act & of course there will always be some women who will take it one step further, but surely if you don't like it you don't look. A baby doesn't always stick to mealtimes.some women can't through no fault of their own feed naturally .breast is best is shoved down new mothers throats all the time & I can see why they are reluctant to do so with the intolerance that is shown towards them, it's taken long enough for the disabled to get access to eating places,perhaps a little more thought should be given to nursing mothers to be able to feed babies in comfort whilst out shopping, eating & in some cases working& not have to hide away in a corner in what amounts to a posh toilet as though they are committing a crime .

[kiss*my*pixel]

Very well said, Sam! Am in total agreement with you.

[tommy.irene]

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@kiss*my*pixel wrote:

Frederick - you eat your meal at a table with people, don't you? That is perfectly acceptable. So a baby should be permitted to have it's meal at any table. What if I were to say to you that you are chewing your food in a way that is unacceptable to me, and I would like you to go into the toilet to finish your meal, far away from me, because I find you offensive. How would you react to that?

I would not be happy with you pooping in full view, any more than a baby's nappy being changed in full view - neither is acceptable.

Why do you think a mother feeding her baby should hide herself away, as though it is something to be ashamed of? We are living in the 21st Century here, not the Dark Ages................................................................................ Irene asked the question for replys some are good........... We were in a cafe and this girl pulled out her boob and started to feed her baby and then asked me what was i looking at her for..well a boob stuck in a childs mouth ..you would look too.. Its common here in Spain to see boobs as the only people who wear tops at the pool are Ingles..

[kiss*my*pixel]

We were in a cafe and this girl pulled out her boob and started to feed her baby and then asked me what was i looking at her for..well a boob stuck in a childs mouth ..you would look too.. Its common here in Spain to see boobs as the only people who wear tops at the pool are Ingles

You would look too ??? Really??? No, actually, you wouldn't

A boob stuck in a childs mouth - good grief, what a 'charming' choice of words

Breasts on public display in a holiday resort are entirely different from breasts being used for their natural purpose. Why is the former acceptable, but the latter suddenly becomes disgusting?

I am assuming this thread has been prompted by the woman in Claridge's being asked to cover up.

She was being entirely discreet, and the napkin she was asked to shroud herself in actually drew more attention to her, let alone the fact that it caused her a great deal of upset. Astonishingly bad form on the part of Claridge's.

It is the LAW in the UK that women are permitted to breastfeed wherever and whenever they like. So I'd suggest anyone who is offended by it should simply stay at home, just in case they are subjected to the horrors.

There is a great set of photos on Buzzfeed of historic photos of women feeding their babies IN PUBLIC  (before Formula and bottles were even invented or popular). So feeding a baby naturally is hardly a modern-day phenomenon.

[kiss*my*pixel]

Isn't it strange that 70 or more years ago public breastfeeding was completely unremarkable? Possibly because people saw it for what it was: a woman feeding her baby. And yet today when we are all supposedly so liberated in our attitudes towards sex, a glimpse of breast is apparently terribly, terribly shocking.

I've linked to the photos I mentioned in my previous post, if of any interest to anyone.

www.buzzfeed.com/southerndisposition/25-historical-images-that-normalize-breastfeeding-jlw6

[saasher2012]

I see far more provocative sights in the town than a woman using her breasts for what they were intended for. I don't see anyone stopping them or denying them a table.

[bankhaunter]

Isn't it strange that 70 or more years ago public breastfeeding was completely unremarkable?

Almost that long ago when taken with my mother to visit a neighbour, it was not unusual for the neoighbour to be breast feeding while they talked.

Perhaps that's why to me it's perfectly normal but less so to those who grew up at a later time when bottle feeding was the norm.

[merc1_clocks]

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@kiss*my*pixel wrote:

Isn't it strange that 70 or more years ago public breastfeeding was completely unremarkable? Possibly because people saw it for what it was: a woman feeding her baby. And yet today when we are all supposedly so liberated in our attitudes towards sex, a glimpse of breast is apparently terribly, terribly shocking.

I've linked to the photos I mentioned in my previous post, if of any interest to anyone.

www.buzzfeed.com/southerndisposition/25-historical-images-that-normalize-breastfeeding-jlw6

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 Brilliant 

[chickengrandma-2008]

I wonder if we should start keeping cows and calves in a barn in case people out to enjoy the countryside are offended.

And pigs.  And sheep.  And dogs.  And cats. 

And we shouldn't be taking children to the zoo in case they see these horrendous sights!!

[saasher2012]

I think people have lost the idea of what breasts are really for..

[5129frederick]

Phworr - don't you believe it!!! !