Breast Feeding in Public
By sandymay48
@sandymay48 (2030)
Canada
February 20, 2009 10:52am CST
I have just come back from a Doctors appt and was quite taken back by an incident in the waiting room. More taken back by the reaction.
A woman was breast feeding her fairly newborn baby in a crowded docs office. Ofcourse the little one needs to eat. Quite natural I think. She did try to cover up at first but then threw the cover away saying she couldnt see what she was doing.
Two ladies came and sat next to her and once they realized she was feeding, they were talking amongsth themselves, loud enough to be heard, that there was a bathroom right out in the hall for that kind of stuff. After a few minutes, the ladies husband became very irratated and told the ladies to keep their comments to themselves. If they didnt like it, they could leave. Now these ladies were really overdoing it, and on purpose too.
Then I started to wonder if this would be a good discussion for mylot, just listening to what they were saying.
1. Do you think its acceptable to breast feed in public?
2. Does it make you feel uncomfortable to see a woman breast feed in public..( I know some of the men in the waiting room were!)..lol
10 people like this
3 responses
@sunil_008 (1269)
• India
20 Feb 09
i don't see anything wrong with this one...but we have always try to teach the kids about how to behave in front of the guests sort of thing...it sounds little bit public indecency...like she could have done that while covering the baby.i will not support the idea that those two ladies were saying...like going to the bathroom.
and personally i would feel uncomfortable at something like this...
2 people like this
@okkidokitokki (1736)
• United States
20 Feb 09
The men that I know would have raised the magazine also, but that would be to show respect for the mother. I have had this discussion with many people in my family before and it has been agreed upon with us that if your child is hugry then feed the baby.
It makes me proud to see a woman feeding her baby, if it needs to be done when you are in public then do it.
If the baby was very new then she might not have the hang of it yet and so she did need to see what she was doing. Good for her and for the man who stood up for her.
2 people like this
@sandymay48 (2030)
• Canada
20 Feb 09
Hello and thanks for your response..I think a couple of the men raised the magazines because they were embarrassed...lol..as their faces were red...but its maybe not something they are used to seeing. I agree, the baby has to be fed.
2 people like this
@bamakelly (5191)
• United States
20 Feb 09
I think this subject has been brought up before and personally that kind of thing should be taken into a more private place. I know that the baby needs to be fed and the mother knows that.
She should realize that she needs to plan accordingly before going out in public and should also consider doing this type of thing in front of the public. It is just common courtesy.
I think I might have witnessed someone doing this but I don't remember when.
@sandymay48 (2030)
• Canada
20 Feb 09
Well since it was a doctors office they were at and I dont know the reason, if it was a last minute thing or not, I cant comment on planning accordingly in public places. I would agree if they were out shopping for the day. But I do think they were taking it to extremes. She could have covered up more and her husband seemed to have an attitude. When it was their turn to go in, they should have went. It would have been more private. Instead, when the nurse called them in, the husband said..bad timing, take the next patient...That would have been their opportunity to feed in privacy.
