Comments about breastfeeding in public

[Karina]

Do you breastfeed in public, and do you seem to get positive or negative comments from strangers?

I will just feed Claire pretty much anywhere and I dont really care if half the world sees my breasts.. but, thing is, before I had Claire, I was a bit worried about breastfeeding in public, thinking I would be getting negative comments from people (cover up, you shouldnt let people see that, and so on), but I have actually been surprised that I havent had nasty comments said to me.

So what have other people experienced?

[Snowy Love]

I also was concerned about how I'd feel - now I won't feed in the parents room unless I have to (he's got a pooey nappy & is staving) and I don't cover up more than only lifting the shirt just enough for Lucas to get access. I haven't had any negative comments but I get smiles from other women especially older women. This might change as Lucas gets older and people question why he's still breastfed - hopefully I won't be intimidated back to the parents room.

I sort of feel a bit of responsibility to feed in public so that it can be seen as normal.

[~Jo~]

I really only have ever gotten positive comments and smiling, from older women in particular. I agree..the more we do it, the more its seen as normal

Jo

[MantaRay]

I too was nervous about it at first. Now after 3 years in total of bfing it's very second nature. I feed everywhere, even on the floor of the supermarket! I have had very possible experiences - one time I was feeding on the floor of the supermarket and a staff member brought me a chair.

I agree with the pp - I like the fact that I am helping to normalise bfing!

[shellbell3]

At the beginning I was so nervous bout feeding in public, I used to try to avoid it cause I was worried bout getting negative comments. But now I have no prob feeding her anywhere and I've never had anything negative said, sometimes I don't think people even notice cause it is quite discreet, I mean bubs head covers up everything anyways.

[Karina]

Oh its good to know I wasnt the only one who was a bit nervous at first to feed in public. As I said, it doesnt bother me now at all. I figure.. I eat in public so why shoudlnt Claire be able to. I just remember reading in another thread about how in the UK it used to be that if you were aksed to cover up while feeding in public then you HAD to cover up or go somewhere else to feed.

I usually get old ladies smiling at me. The other day another mum walked past me and said 'good on you' when I was feeding Claire in the middle of a shopping centre.

[mbear]

Ive only had +ve experiences....a lady once commented to me how well i hid it !!!! Im not b/f now, but when i do see a woman out at the shops b/f i think to myself 'you go girl'. I think its a great thing.....

[Roryrory]

really only have ever gotten positive comments and smiling, from older women in particular

I had one particularly nice experience - I was at a particularly posh hotel for a conference and two older ladies walked past and said how lovely, we should see that more often.

I bet they were old Nursing Mothers Association radicals back in their day

[AnyDream]

I have only ever had supportive comments and smiles. Especially from older women (one even told me how she fed all her children during the war years when there was rationing, etc). Having said that, I have always been confident about it.

The other thing i can say is, god help anyone who ever publically criticises me. I have a mentally rehearsed speech and am prepared to use it! Our rights to be not discriminated against for carrying out our parental duties is protected by law in Australia and I'm ready to remind anyone who might need reminding!

[lilima]

I still feed basically anywhere. If James needs it, I give it. James is 9 months now, and it is getting harder to feed him in an environment with a lot of stimulation, as he wants to look around etc. So I have staated taking him into parents rooms if I can as it is quieter.
I am surprised that I even get them out in front of my Grandpa if James needs it!!

Has anyone got any thoughts on how long they will feed for? I think that I am the one that will have trouble giving it up and not James.

[Netix]

I feed Steph anywhere and everywhere. The only time I get a bit, hmm, not nervous, but I guess I conceal it a bit more is when there are elderly men around. Don't know why, maybe because they remind me of my Granddad who was a proper English fellow, and probably would not have approved of that. However, I feed her quite freely and happily in front of my in-laws, both of whom are a very proper English couple!
I once walked from one end of a shopping centre to nearly the other feeding Steph, and although she was covered (only cos I didn't feel comfortable where I was), I was getting my own retaliation comments and actions ready to any silly soul who decided to have words. To my surprise, there were no comments.
One lady in our local shopping centre said to me "oh, breakfast time is it?" (in a nice way), and I replied "no, close, second breakfast". That's about the only comment I think I have got on it. The rest I haven't heard.

[Astrid]

No negative comments so far. I did have one old boy try to sneak in a closer look when I was feeding outside a train station and had the pram positioned in front of me. Oh I did shock one of the younger male members of our hobby when I fed Maggie in the middle of a meeting, she was 23 mths old then.

[AnyDream]

Way to go with the shocking, Astrid - I love it! I constantly ask myself how such a normal thing can be so invisible to so many people. I'm all for hiring billboards with pictures of mothers feeding just to get the visual aspect of breastfeeding out there into the Australian consciousness. As a nation, we're not prudish about anything else, why about breastfeeding>

[lilima]

Remember what an uproar it was when Kate langebrook fed her baby while filming live to air on "The Panel" and you couldn't even see anything. It just looked like she was holding her bub.

[Olive]

i feed anyway and agree with the smiles!! warms my heart to see people smiling at us!1 i just feed DD inthe chemist 1/2 hour ago while waiting for a script

[Percy]

I was nervous at first but then I realised that I showed more when I was in my 20's and went topless on the beach!! Now I don't care! My daughter has a right to her food as much as other people do.

Breastfeeding is natural and nature at its best!

[Barb Glare]

Hi,

People who know me won't believe this, but my first breastfeeding in public experience ended in teas (mine!) more than 14 years ago. We went out to the local pub for a countermeal. He screamed. I was all fingers and thumbs. He wouldn't attach - I got that awful hot *****ly feeling. I FELT everyone was looking (of course they weren't!)
Since then I've fed everywhere, anytime. I have fed at church, at school, restaurants, parks wherever. I've never had a negative comment. (But then I think I may have a look on my face that says "Don't even think of saying anything stupid") Even fed my adopted daughter at soccer practice.
I hear, often enough, that people are asked to stop or leave. It seems unthinkable. I also notice that in my hometown you don't see mothers breastfeeding out and about. And sadly I know that leads to other mothers, even some migrant mothers believe that other women are not breastfeeding, and that bottle feeding is the norm. I have even spoken to mothers who feel uncomfortable in feeding at Mothers group because no-one else does - and they feel that they have to express and feed their baby EBM when they are at the group! Which in turn makes other mothers feel that no-one else but them is feeding. I really think it's vitally important to be seen breastfeeding, and to make it a normal part of mothering.

Warm Regards
Barb

[Jennifer13]

I sort of feel a bit of responsibility to feed in public so that it can be seen as normal.

Me too!!! In fact, now that Lucy is a toddler and not a baby anymore I feel even more like I'm out there educating the general public. But Lucy only feeds once during the day now (the other two feeds are first thing and last thing and I'm not out and about) so I don't get as much opportunity to do my bfing community service as I used to.

I make up for it by mentioning the fact I still bf her whenever the appropriate juncture in a conversation comes up! The ppl I'm most happy to be talking to it about are my two younger sisters, neither of whom have children yet. I so want them to realise that bfing your child for as long as you want is totally normal.

No negative comments here either (not even with a toddler), but like so many of you I have a ready supply of comebacks. I have gotten mild surprise in conversation, but nothing negative. Might have to wait another year for that!