Breast feeding in public Buildings

[Gromit]

Some councils ban breast feeding in public buildings such as reception areas and libraries.

Do you agree with banning or is it natural?

[Mamyalynne]

Scenario 1 :

Feed baby at home, take two buses into town, get to Town Hall - take a ticket and sit to wait your turn to be seen. The clock ticks by the minutes and sometimes hours, baby requires feeding.

Scenario 2 :

Feed baby at home, get the train to nearby city centre to take two older children to Science Museum. A good few hours pass and visit local eatery for refreshments, baby requires feeding.

Becoming a breastfeeding Mum does not mean you are housebound for all the time you are feeding.

[B00]

jno's worth every penny of that fiver a month i pay 'em to say great stuff about me!

Yay, thank you ethandron, really thought i waso n my own here xxxx

Lottie, you might not, as a rule eat in public places, but, if you were a bit peckish, surely you'd eat something, even a snack? Why can't a baby do the same? Even though people here are saying that yes its ok to feed a baby in public, the vast majority of you seem to think that we still shouldn't be doing it, no need etc.... and I honestly still dont get why not.

[emmie]

I read through the entire post, and some interesting comments, I saw a very good garment, for want of a better word, for ladies who breastfeed their babies, it was a kind of shawl/sling, rather hard to describe, but it allowed the woman and baby to get on with what they were doing where ever and no one would be able to see anything, i am not sure where i saw it, perhaps an article in the paper, but it made perfect sense.
I have been in this situation, like one recently where the lady was breastfeeding the baby on the bus, its wasn't a case of staring, it did however make some feel uncomfortable.

[joeluke]

Women should be free to breast feed in public..............toilets

In public in full view of everyone is not on, find a public toilet and do it in there ladies

[B00]

would you like to eat your dinner in a toilet Joe? Why should a baby?

[ethandron]

you put the argument very well i thought BOO, credit where it's due :)
women survived for years and years without having the vote, gay people survived for years and years before it became legal to be gay, black people survived for years with terrible discrimination against them.....but it doesn't mean it was right, so the argument that babies have survived for many years without being breastfed in public doesn't hold water. i like to think we're all a little more enlightened now but reading some of the responses here i think there's still a long way to go.

[Zeuhl]

<<In public in full view of everyone is not on>>

Why so squeamish?

Are some people frightened by the female body or simply disgusted by it?

They could probably keep a psychiatrist busy for months.
.

[joeluke]

I don't nomally eat my dinner off a womans breast Boo

[Mamyalynne]

JL., don't be so ridiculous! There are plenty of garments around that ensure the breast is not exposed and a simple muslin cloth over your shoulder shields the baby from view too.

[Mamyalynne]

Ah a bottle fed baby Joe, that may explain it.

[jno]

I really don't get this compulsion people have to compare breastfeeding to going to the toilet. What a strange, strange line of thinking.

I don't actually see that many women breastfeeding - but I have no objection to it being done at all, any time, any where. I don't see why babies should go hungry to spare the blushes of embarrassed adults. Remember, you don't have to look!

[B00]

Em's reiterated the point im against (sorry em, lol). Why should women feel they have to have any material, be it a shawl, blanket, etc to do what is probably one of the most natural thing in the world? To use their breasts for what they're designed for....feeding babies.

If people are squeamish or revolted by this sight then I really think they need to question why they feel this way, rather than the woman having to scurry off and feed her baby elsewhere in case she offends their delicate sensibilities.

[B00]

joeluke
I don't nomally eat my dinner off a womans breast Boo - that's only probably because she wouldn't let you ;-)

[emmie]

confess i don't care for it in restaurants, and on the bus was difficult, because some people might well consider it offensive.

[Zeuhl]

<<some people might well consider it offensive. >>

em - that's down to their hang-ups; not what the mother is doing - and that sort of distorted, schoolboy embarassment about 'naked lady-bits' really doesn't deserve the time of day.

[joeluke]

It's not a case of being 'squeamish', if breasts were meant to be on show in public women would be walking the streets topless

If I got my JT out and peed in public (even if I was shielding the action from public view) I'd get hauled before the courts, so why should women be any different?

[Mamyalynne]

At the risk of repeating what has already been said, there is no need to expose the breast to the viewing public.

[boxtops]

I remember topless dresses, JT - they were't exactly popular in the end, but that was just flaunting. I take it you've never been in a ladies' public toilet - they are hardly a place to you want to visit too often in some cases,. let alone spend an hour blocking up a toilet cubiclewhile you sit on it feeding your baby, there's nowhere else to sit. Most of us get out quick, not want to relax in there.

[emmie]

the people that use buses in London are from all walks of life, all ages, they are just going about their business, not all would be embarrassed, but some in those instances i have seen were.

[tamborine]

I'd rather hear a baby suckle than bawl.