do people really have problem with women bf.

[steph.]

Australia is very pro breastfeeding. I often get people coming up to me congratulation me for nip or saying how lovely it is to see a mother bfing.

I've had good experience nip too! No one has ever said anything or given me dirty looks. I even saw a lady walking around with her two toddlers and bfing her baby in target while she shopped and no one batted an eyelid. I think i'm so used to it now, i would be in complete shock if someone was rude to me.

 

[babyhopes2010]

I don't think I 'mistook' a man staring at me with a face like thunder for a good few minutes in a Costa, before the person he was with came back and he simply said 'that's so disrespectful'. It was my only real issue with BFing - apart from family.

BUT..I mentioned on another thread that I actually got more 'bad looks' and snidy comments when I moved on to FF (some from local BFing mum's at baby group, some from OH family, a couple when out). I'm semi-young and I overheard one woman saying to her friends 'another young mum who didn't bother breastfeeding' (bear in mind LO was 6 months and I'd gone through hell with BFing up to then).

So...basically, it depends on where you are, what you're feeling about what you're doing and how much attention you pay to others.

i get awful looks for ff

Infact its usually from mothers that BF

 

[babyhopes2010]

here u go......

https://www.ivillage.com/breastfeeding-activists-protest-new-zealand-ad/6-a-430502

https://moms.today.msnbc.msn.com/_n...-of-dad-feeding-baby-turns-controversial?lite

 

[hayz_baby]

I'd like to add that I was never very discrete when feeding in public (didn't like the nursing covers) and Maria liked to pull off and flash me to everyone passing by but still no one said anything. I dunno if its cost breastfeeding is more common or nudity is just less shocking here (I once saw a naked man swimming in the rapids at a huge family event and no one batted an eyelid)

You are defo right.. Countries like finland r v open with nudity and sex and only have postive effects with some of the lowest rates of teen pregnancy and crime. Health systems as well are some of the best in the world! Defo doing something right

 

[Natsku]

I'd like to add that I was never very discrete when feeding in public (didn't like the nursing covers) and Maria liked to pull off and flash me to everyone passing by but still no one said anything. I dunno if its cost breastfeeding is more common or nudity is just less shocking here (I once saw a naked man swimming in the rapids at a huge family event and no one batted an eyelid)

You are defo right.. Countries like finland r v open with nudity and sex and only have postive effects with some of the lowest rates of teen pregnancy and crime. Health systems as well are some of the best in the world! Defo doing something right

Gotta agree there.

 

[Ozzieshunni]

I have several friends that FF. I don't look at them differently They are just feeding their kids. Many of them did BF for a period of time. I don't like women that BF that think they have some sense of entitlement, or that they think they are better than anyone else.

I still would like to see better breastfeeding support and education all over the US and UK.

 

[Dragonfly]

I have several friends that FF. I don't look at them differently They are just feeding their kids. Many of them did BF for a period of time. I don't like women that BF that think they have some sense of entitlement, or that they think they are better than anyone else.

I still would like to see better breastfeeding support and education all over the US and UK.

Agree here, I wish we where not all tarred with the same brush. I dont dont care who any one feeds, I wish people didnt care how I fed to. Its not the end all and be all many other factors to raising a baby are important to. Also agree on education, its very bad the breastfeeding rates here. I get eyes rolled at me by my mum and told I am just being awkward for not formula feeding like the rest of my family. Never once said to any of them how they feed, yet everyone has said something to me.

 

[raychmumtobe]

I myself only breast fed for a mere 4 months, 2 of those being combi feeding.
I fed in public in total like 4 times, 3 of those i was made to feel like i was doing something indecent and wrong.

The first time i ever breast fed in public was in a busy shopping centre.. i went upstairs, sat on a bench with my back to everyone and my coat was over my babe and boob... a group of young men, mid twenties, noticed what i was doing and started shouting really vulgar comments at me... i burst into tears, but refused to stop as my babe was hungry, and my OH confronted them and they ran off...

This put me off going out for about 2 weeks, and when i got the courage to do it again, i went to a cafe with my OH, that we went to frequently with his parents, and we bought drinks and were sat in the far corner with our backs to the rest of the room and i started feeding LO, within around 2 minutes, the manager came over and asked me to stop, or leave.. I asked her why and she said because it was a family restaurant and children and men came in there. I simply had no reply as i was dumbfounded and literally felt like id done something obscene.. I had to unlatch my daughter, who then proceeded to scream whilst my OH demanded a refund for our drinks, as we hadnt even had chance to drink them... i then had to walk to the public toilets so that i could feed my daughter, then got on the first bus home. Weve never been back to that cafe.

But i think the worst thing for me when breastfeeding, was feeling uncomfortable feeding in front of my family... My dad and my BIL wouldnt stay in the room if i needed to feed LO, and my brother literally shouted at me to go in the other room.

I really dont understand the stigma... Its perfectly natural, but i was made to feel like i was being vulgar by whipping my boob out to feed LO.. although i was always completely covered, and you couldnt actually see anything.. I never understood it... but i really do wish id carried on past four months. I miss the closeness with my daughter, especially since i only get 2 hours in the morning of co-sleeping now too.
I want more snuggles!

Thats bloody disgusting and so completely illegal!!
If you give me the details of the cafe you went to I will go there myself to feed my 8 months old and god save her if she tries to say anything!! I'm not even joking!!

I have been quite lucky, I think people dont really dare to make nasty comments at me and I never really noticed any nasty stare. I know most women at work dont agree with me completely on bf but they know better than to try and tell me what to do anyway lol My family is really supportive so that the main thing really.

A friend of my mother (I have known all my life) emailed me at the beginning to ask me why I was breastfeeding, whether I really needed to breastfeed to 'feel' like a mother, hinting that I was basically being selfish and explaining that my daughter's brain development was going to be affected by not being given formula

It was the Country Larder Cafe in wigan town centre. I havent been back, and neither has anyone i know, so they have lost a bit of custom because of the incident and i was told by many to write to newspapers about it and call them out, but i was really embarassed and didnt want to make a bigger deal out of it.

 

[Ozzieshunni]

I'm sorry you had that experience . I would have kicked up hell. It's illegal what they did

 

[raychmumtobe]

I'm sorry you had that experience . I would have kicked up hell. It's illegal what they did

i was told a few times... was just too embarassed to kick up a fuss... if it happened now, id kick off and cause a scene... but at the time, i was so new to it i honestly felt like i was being vulgar by getting my boob out in a family cafe.

 

[oblada18]

Maybe we should organise a few bf mums from the area to go have a cuppa there... Will definitely check it out next weekend if I can lol

xx

 

[raychmumtobe]

Maybe we should organise a few bf mums from the area to go have a cuppa there... Will definitely check it out next weekend if I can lol

xx

Id love to see her asking a whole group of BFing mums to leave Would be worth a wander down.

 

[MrsPOP]

I really hope if I have another baby that BF works out for me so I can NIP and happily tell anyone who has an issue to sod off

If it does I'm not far from that cafe Raychmumtobe so I will go down there, whack out my boob and NIP for you

Babyhopes2010, yeah I've had the disgusted looks for FF in baby groups. That's why I never went back to them.

 

[Kage76]

im going to put my hand up here- i do tend to look at people breastfeeding- not in disgust- but because i think its just so lovely. I wonder if those women who saw me going misty eyed about them feeding their child mistook my interest as "glaring".

 

[raychmumtobe]

I really hope if I have another baby that BF works out for me so I can NIP and happily tell anyone who has an issue to sod off

If it does I'm not far from that cafe Raychmumtobe so I will go down there, whack out my boob and NIP for you

Babyhopes2010, yeah I've had the disgusted looks for FF in baby groups. That's why I never went back to them.

Mrs POP: Have to say, when i have my next babe (TTC atm) I will be going down there myself and will be whipping out the breast, without a cover might i add, and now im more conident, will be screaming at that manager if she so much as heads in my direction.

Babyhopes2010: Ive only been to a few groups, and am the youngest mum, with the oldest babe, only one that cloth bums, babywears and co-sleeps part-time. Im the only one that Breastfed too, and the only one with a babe with asthma. The looks i get are awful. Really hate going, but need to get out the house or ill drive myself insane and become a recluse.

 

[raychmumtobe]

im going to put my hand up here- i do tend to look at people breastfeeding- not in disgust- but because i think its just so lovely. I wonder if those women who saw me going misty eyed about them feeding their child mistook my interest as "glaring".

I must admit, i do stare now.... mainly with jealousy and sadness.
I love seeing it, and miss doing it.
But i always give the mother a smile when she notices me staring.

 

[Meredith2010]

I find it really interesting how things vary so much even within the same country.

Where I am in the UK BFing is totally the norm and you definitely get judged so much more if you FF. All throughout my pregnancies all I've had is support for BFing from medical professionals and following the birth last time there was so much support around if I needed it. It's just assumed that you will BF - which I'd always planned to do so if I'd wanted information about FFing I'd have had to search for it, it definitely wasn't just offered.

I never had any comments or negativity about BFing or NIP. Personally, the comments started when I switched to formula and again this was from everyone - HV/Doctor/friends/family.

So no, I never found anyone had a problem with me BFing but loads of people had problems with me FFing!

 

[Poppeteer]

Wow, I still don't get this... I have been nursing for 3.5 years continuously now and I will nip probably 2-3 times a day... And I have NEVER had a comment.... Or look... But as I say, I could be completely oblivious....

This is all over the uk, Dubai, turkey, Egypt, Greece, Portugal, France, Belgium, holland.... I'm genuinely shocked and pretty angry that people have had such negativity.

How sad.

 

[summer rain]

I've had a lot of negativity for BF, and most of it has been from health professionals sadly. When its health professionals saying these things it really does set doubts in your mind as it isn't like they are just an ill-educated average joe member of the public. My in-laws used to be anti-BF but now they are not as they have seen my boys thrive on it. In this particular 'neighbourhood' BF rates are pretty high but in other areas of this borough, including where I used to live, and in the hospitals around here BF rates are pretty much zero, and it is really looked down upon. I had dirty looks, tuts and comments for NIP very discreetly in A&E when my son was a week old, and again when I was waiting to be signed off by the midwife when he was 5 weeks, if I'd have cracked open a jar of baby food and started feeding him with that the reaction would have been less bad. I honestly weighed up FF from birth with my youngest just because they are so anti-BF around here and I couldn't go through it again; I am glad I didn't go down that road though as we discovered at a week old that he had quite a serious CMPI and cutting stuff out of my own diet worked well and was no hassle. My GP (who also trained as a paediatrician) is very supportive of BF so she is a big exception to the general rule around here and if it wasn't for her I probably would have thrown in the towel a long time ago. xx

 

[ImmysMom]

The only negativity i've experienced is OH's family - I was ushered into another room to feed...I would have kicked up a fuss but I quite enjoyed the time away from them lol!

I NIP all the time and as far as i've noticed not received any looks or comments...my area has a low rate of BF and I can't actually recall seeing anyone outside of baby groups NIPing which is a real shame.