The analogy about sunday lunch and formula feeding is easy to understand really. It's about the fact that you have to take something that is not on your body into a pool. So in that respect, no, taking a beer into a pool ISN'T the same as breast feeding, it's still taking something that isn't on your body into a pool.
Have I said that it's ok to breast feed in a pool because it's easier?
No?
Stop putting words into my mouth then!
I'm saying because it's completely natural as in the female body makes the milk, then it shouldn't be classed the same as food and drink. Yes, it's food but it's a food that is made by the body, dispensed by the body and there's no foreign objects to take anywhere.
I don't see how arguments that say milk might get into the pool or baby being sick in the pool can be used here. As a lactating Mother, my boobs leak. Fact. So without feeding my daughter, there's milk getting into the pool. At my daughters swimming lesson the other week a baby was sick in the pool. The reason? He swallowed some of the water. Should he not have been allowed in the pool because there was always a possibility that he could have been sick?
The no food and drink rule shouldn't apply to breast feeding because having a nursing baby is not the same as opening a bag of crisps or eating a mars bar or drinking a bottle of pop (or any of the healthy alternatives in case someone thinks I'm just referring to junk food) if anything other than breastfeeding is done in a pool (which includes formula feeding) there is some sort of packaging, there is some way of that contaminating the pool - not so much with formula but it still has to be contained in a bottle.
Eating food or drinking could cause the pool to have to be shut down and emptied and cleaned if any of it gets into the water, same with bottle feeding, drop the bottle (yes I know it would likely float but just in case it didn't) and then there has to be some sort of cleaning that has to be done.
No one has to empty and clean a pool because breast milk got into the water....
This is what the law has to say on the matter of breast feeding in public (in the UK) :
Where can a woman breastfeed?
You are protected in public places such as parks, sports and leisure facilities, public buildings and when using public transport such as buses, trains and planes. You are protected in shops, public, restaurants and hotels regardless of how big of small. You are also protected in places like hospitals, theatres, cinemas and petrol stations.
This is probably more applicable :
Are there some places where I cannot breastfeed in public?
Yes, it is not against the law to prevent a woman breastfeeding in a service which is a single sex service for men. This single sex service must be justified, for example, where only one sex needs it or one sex needs the service more than the other. Voluntary groups or charities set up specifically to benefit one sex may be acting lawfully if they exclude women. Religious organisations may offer services to one sex if it is in line with the doctrines of that religion. In some cases, where single sex services are justified, it would be reasonable to object to members of the opposite sex being there.
It is not against the law to prevent a woman breastfeeding where there are legitimate health and safety risks, for example, near to certain chemicals or radiation.
Please note, no where does it say that a breast feeding Mother cannot feed in an area where there is no eating and drinking. Only in areas where there are legitimate health and safety risks. A swimming pool would not come under this.
Taken from here : https://www.maternityaction.org.uk/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/breastfeedingpublicplace.pdf
Gotta love the 2010 Equality Act!
. 
which is essentially what it would be.
