Leading health organizations such as the World Health Organization recommend that babies be breastfed exclusively for the first six months of life, and continue to be breastfed, with the addition of solid foods, until two years and beyond. This is due to the many benefits of breastfeeding for both mothers and their breastfed babies.
You can read about some of these benefits in BellyBelly’s article 5 Benefits Of Breastfeeding For Baby and Mother.
Despite this, due to social norms in many parts of the world, many people feel uncomfortable about women breastfeeding in public. Society expects mother to breastfeed their babies, as per leading health authorities’ recommendations, but either subtly or outwardly encourage ‘breastfeeding discreetly’, to avoid making other people feel uncomfortable.
If society is to continue to encourage and promote breastfeeding, then society must regard breastfeeding in public places as perfectly acceptable.
The sexualization of women’s bodies
Some people associate breastfeeding with a sexual act. This is because breasts are viewed as sexual objects in our society. Although there is plenty of educational material on this subject, people still tend to forget that there is nothing wrong with nursing a baby in public.
In Western societies, many women wear revealing clothing, and the sight of exposed and semi-exposed breasts in public places is widely accepted. It seems contradictory that breastfeeding in public should be perceived as being scandalous or ‘indiscreet’.
Any breastfeeding mother who has to wrangle a diaper bag, other children, and a screaming baby in a shopping mall knows there’s absolutely nothing sexual about whipping a breast out of a tank top to breastfeed. Women have breasts for a clear biological purpose: to nourish and nurture babies.
Nasty looks in shopping areas and other public spaces cause nursing mothers to feel they are involved in illegal behavior or indecent exposure. In fact, state legislatures protect public nursing.
Breastfeeding in public and the law
Breastfeeding in public is protected by law.
Although most nursing mothers are aware of their breastfeeding rights, negative comments and nasty looks lead women to look for ways to avoid public breastfeeding. Some might feel they need to express breast milk, so that they can bottle feed their babies in public, or give their babies infant formula. Not all babies accept bottle-feeding, especially those who usually breastfeed exclusively; this makes feeding them in public spaces impossible.
Some women might breastfeed in public using a breastfeeding cover. Older babies are easily distracted and won’t be happy to feed if they aren’t comfortable (e.g. with a cover over the baby’s face) or if they don’t have easy access to the breast (e.g. with a mother wearing numerous layers of clothing to stay covered up). This distraction while feeding means they might not feed effectively while out and is another barrier for women who need to leave the house with their breastfed baby.
A breastfeeding woman shouldn’t have to wrestle a screaming baby under a nursing cover to avoid nasty looks and negative comments while feeding her baby in public places. Unfortunately, circumstances such as these commonly lead to mothers resorting to breastfeeding in a private spaces, such as public toilets, to avoid negative comments.
Other women don’t feel comfortable breastfeeding in public at all and therefore are unable to leave their house with the baby. Breastfeeding is the normal way to feed infants; therefore women should have full support to breastfeed anywhere, anytime.
There are also laws to protect breastfeeding when a mother returns to work.
You can read more about this in BellyBelly’s article Return To Work Laws And Breastfeeding | What Are Your Rights?
Breastfeeding in public around the world
Regardless of what people might think, breastfeeding in public is protected by law in many countries around the world. State legislatures should have such laws because breastfeeding mothers need to be protected at all costs.
This is often done by national conferences around the world. An example is the Ontario Human Rights Commission, which develops policies and upholds human rights.
Let’s look at what various countries have to say about breastfeeding in public.
Breastfeeding in public in Australia
Under the federal Sex Discrimination Act 1984, breastfeeding in Australia is a right, not a privilege.
It’s against the law to prohibit a mother from breastfeeding her baby in any place she is legally able to be, regardless of her age, or because her breast is exposed while feeding her baby.
It’s also against the law to discriminate against a mother on the grounds she is breastfeeding.
Breastfeeding in public in the UK
In the national conference in the UK, the Equality Act 2010 indicates that to treat a woman less favourably, on the grounds she is breastfeeding, is regarded as discrimination.
Discrimination can include refusing to provide a service, providing a lower quality service or providing a service on different terms. A restaurant owner, for example, can’t make a woman stop breastfeeding her baby or refuse to serve her.
Women can breastfeed without a nursing cover in public places such as public buildings, public transport, parks, sports facilities, shops, restaurants, restaurant booths, hospitals, theatres, cinemas and petrol stations.
Nursing moms in the US
In almost all 50 states in the US, the law protects breastfeeding in public.
In 47 states, the federal property in Washington DC and the Virgin Islands, there are laws that specifically allow mothers to breastfeed their babies in public. Two of the remaining states (South Dakota and Virginia) exempt nursing moms from indecent exposure or nudity laws.
Idaho is the only US state which has yet to pass any similar laws. Currently, in Idaho, the only protection nursing mothers have is an exemption from jury duty.
Breastfeeding in public in the Philippines
In the Philippines, breastfeeding is protected by various laws, including the Expanded Breastfeeding Promotion Act of 2009 and the Milk Code of the Philippines.
In addition, employers in the Philippines must allow breastfeeding employees breaks to breastfeed or express their breast milk.
Offices and public places (e.g. shopping malls and schools) must provide lactation stations, where mothers can breastfeed their babies or express breast milk. These stations must be separate from the bathrooms.
Breastfeeding in public in Europe
Public breastfeeding in Europe is widely accepted and legal.
In the national conference of the Netherlands, the law states that for the first 9 months an employer is obligated to provide breastfeeding mothers with a suitable breastfeeding room and allow for 25% of work time to be spent on breastfeeding or expressing.
In other parts of Europe, public breastfeeding just is. There might not be specific laws to protect breastfeeding moms but it’s so commonplace laws are not needed.
Breastfeeding in public in Africa
While there are no laws in Africa about public breastfeeding, in many parts of the continent breastfeeding in public is the norm. Babies are typically carried around on their mother’s back and are moved around to the front for feeding.
Babies who are carried by their moms for most of the day tend not to cry very much. In fact, in Africa, it’s assumed a baby who is crying is being carried around by a woman other than the baby’s mother. That’s because if she were the mother, everyone would simply expect the woman to breastfeed the baby.
Breastfeeding in public in Nepal
In Nepal, breastfeeding is considered a must for mothers. This country doesn’t have any particular laws about public breastfeeding but it is common and widely accepted.
Given the importance of breastfeeding, it is essential mothers feel confident about breastfeeding in public. This is because if mothers don’t see, and support, other mothers doing it, it reinforces the idea breastfeeding is something to be done only in a private space.
In the same way that people shouldn’t be prevented from eating whenever they are hungry, feeding a baby should not be a problem either. Breastfeeding, in fact, should be done whenever and wherever a baby needs to be fed.
Breastfeeding older children in public
No matter the age of your child, public breastfeeding is protected by law.
Depending on which part of the world you’re in, a woman breastfeeding an older child might receive more public disapproval than a woman breastfeeding a younger baby. Breastfeeding in public is perfectly acceptable for every mother and child, regardless of age.
All state legislatures around the world should establish concrete support for all mothers who nurse and breastfeed their babies in public, so that women do not feel the need to cover up or breastfeed their babies in public toilets.
Breastfeeding mothers ‘nurse in’ (Australia)
In 2021 in Queensland, Australia, one woman was approached in a shopping center by another woman who felt uncomfortable seeing her breastfeeding in public.
It was suggested to the she would be more comfortable nursing her child in a private space. After refusing to move until her baby had finished nursing, the breastfeeding woman was asked to leave the ‘high-end’ section of the center.
After she took to social media to share her experience, many other moms were outraged and arranged a public ‘nurse in’. In support of public breastfeeding, more than 40 nursing mothers turned up to breastfeed their babies in the center at the same time. A television presenter was there and the event was reported in the national news.
To find out more about the benefits of breastfeeding your baby for a year, read BellyBelly’s article Breastfeeding 1 year | Importance Of Your Achievement.
