Do you think it's okay to breast feed in public?

Well let me just tell you my story. When my husband wad drafted into the army my son was 12 days old. I had no close relative (apart from my at the time 82 years old grandmother) living in the same city as me. I do not drive (bad eyes) and do not have a car. I had to pay my bills, do the shoping, run around sorting documents so we can get financial help and get visa for my husband to come to australia. Sometimes I would stand in ques for a documents holding my infant son for hours. Did I have a choice not to feed in public oh and mind you the toilets are filthy you wont go there if your life depends on it let alone feed a child. I had so much milk at one point that my son was not even able to swallow the lot and choke on it so I had to watch him while he was feeding (yes he has inlarged tonsils and that made the problem worse). If I expresed milk that would have not been usable after that much time in the sun and all that. I had a semi see thru cloth that I used and if someone said saomething to me god knows what I would have done. Sometimes that is the only options mothers have so dont judge them, you dont know their story yes its a restuarant but itn not a one off thing. it is everywhere.

I think that it is the most natural thing in the world..These mothers should not be made to feel horrible about it, other people should shut their mmouths and mind their own business.

wow i did a post about this also, not the same scenario though! i think women should use a cover b/c not only r they not respecting themselves by showing their boobs, but they r not respecting others b/c we don't want to see that! i don't mind bfeeding in public as long as u use a receiving blanket to cover urself!

I know I'm going to get heck for this but it's my opinion. I don't think women should breat feed in public period. I just think it is something that should be kept private between mother and child. I've heard rumor some eating places have special rooms for just such a situation.

Wow you certainly brought up a controversial subject! Great discussion. I guess I kind of made my position clear among other conversations here on your discussion thread. I'm all for it, as long as, with anyone and anything its done with discretion. Its ridiculous to send them to a noisy, smelly germ filled bathroom or force mom's to stay home. I have my reasons, described elsewhere in your thread, for feeding at home or in the bathroom, but I'm all for nursing where ever and whenever the baby needs it.

if you ask me its laright as long as you do it for emergency or when it is really needed to be done. such as when your baby is crying and you soothe him/her with milk to make her calm again. if you happen to be in a public place and this situation occured then i guess its just alright. but when it is not needed and you just do it because of habit then o dont think that its not rihgt, but i dont think is not a big deal atll because the public is expected to be respectful and should not peep in anyway or else they are taking advantage of the mother's situationand i dont think this is morally right.

Do babies that are drinking out of a bottle have to be covered? NO! Then a nursing baby shouldn't have to be covered either..We as a society are trying to educate that nursing is the best for our baby but yet want the mother's to cover their babies...NO WAY!!...I think it is a shame and we are telling our youth that it is shameful to feed our babies like this...If someone doesn't like it then don't look...We have a choice as a society to choose whether we look at something we like or dislike...If a mother was there to flaunt her boobs and not really be feeding the baby then by all means that is very unecessary..But actually feeding a baby in public is A okay by me...I did it back in 1982...