Did you have any negative comments from breastfeeding in public?

[Soontobemummy2019]

Just wondering if anyone had experienced any negative comments or attitudes from BF in public and if so, how did you deal with it?

Yes, I was told I was disgusting for feeding in a coffee shop. I was always really discreet and DD a really happy baby.

I told her to get stuffed and asked what the heck they thought my boobs were for if not breastfeeding my baby. It was an old woman, she just mumbled under her breath and left.

It still makes me cross even now.

Not with any of my 3 and DC is 23.

I Always wore something like a t shirt + an open shirt and a scarf so that I could feed discreetly and once walked around a shopping centre with DS latched on & no one batted an eye lid.

Eldest DC is 23 I mean...

Yes I was with my friend (also bf) in a coffee shop and a man came in with his hugely pregnant wife and sat behind us huffing and puffing and saying it was disgusting

Arse of a man had also parked about 1cm from my car outside so on leaving I had to go back in and ask him to move it because I couldn't get my car out (and I'd probably only had 3 hours sleep and didn't fancy trying). One to one the man was hugely apologetic and couldn't do enough to help.

What a tool.

No but both dc were dreadful to bf in public as they get so easily distracted. What I found is a lot of people will stare.

Not one

No, and have breastfed three dc, currently feeding the latest addition. The first two I fed until toddlerhood. I did wonder if it was due to the very liberal/hippyish city we live in, where it's not unusual to see women breastfeeding in public.

No opposite in fact always had positive comments or smiles.
I remember DS was only a few weeks old and we had gone to Toby Carvery for a lunch..We had been seated quite out the back by the toilets simply because it was busy and only table available at the time..We had to stop a a woman from marching off to complain I had been stuck out the back for breastfeeding! She was lovely!.

No never, only ever got reassuring smiles or a glass of water brought over to me.

No.
I was once asked if I minded moving. But then I was sat on a sofa in B&Q that they were wanting to move. They were obviously terrified of asking me to move as they offered me a private office with refreshments
Breastfeeding is by far and away the best method of getting 4 seats round a table on your own on a train though.

Not one in 5 yrs of breastfeeding. And I fed anywhere and everywhere, and up to 3 yrs with DS. And never used a cover either.

No. Only positives.

The other day I saw a woman in pret a manger breastfeeding her young baby. She was making all efforts to display as much boob as possible, making sure her top was as high as it would go, her cardigan as open as possible and her shoulders back. I think she was waiting for someone to make a comment and was probably well prepared with a sharp response. Sadly no one batted an eyelid . Where we are judged for bottle feeding, not breast feeding! In fact I was once approached by a group of militant breastfeeders asking me why I wasn't breastfeeding my baby. I was, just not at that minute!

Never .. one time I felt uncomfortable with a man starring, but I could of been reading into that. It was early days and I was trying to cover at a services. He may have just been looking my way with his naturally frowny face, but not looking at me .

Had a couple of positive comments (from women ) like " I love to see that." / "I did that for years too."

None ever. Just did it and no one said anything.

Only from my mother. She hates it 😂 I fed DD past 2, and was a but surprised nobody said anything towards the end but I have serious resting bitch face, maybe that helped

Only from the ex husband who thought it was ‘disgusting’ and baby can ‘wait until we get home’
But his opinion didn’t count then ( or now)

Nope! I got a bit nervous once when a grey-haired waitress in a naice tea shop in a small rural town came bearing down on me, but she just wanted to give me a glass of water.

I did get grief from MIL but that was in the comfort of my own home.

No, and no one has ever even given me a second look in 2 dcs and over a year of feeding.

Never but I have had a few positive ones.

Never. Only ever positive comments and offers of help to find somewhere comfortable, fetch water, keep an eye on my things.

No nothing negative.

A bunch of teenagers were talking about me when I was feeding DS2 in a cafe, wondering between themselves whether I was breastfeeding. So I turned to them and smiled and said yes, I was breastfeeding. The girls smiled at me and discussion resumed between themselves. I heard one girl defending me to a boy “It’s not disgusting it’s NATURAL” 😀 I was rather touched.

Never. I did worry on a train once when a very elderly gent said ‘do you mind if I ask something?’...turned out he wanted to know how I could tell that DS2 was hungry.

Lots of positive comments from other women and several seats found so I could do so in random places.

I agree that friends who have bottle fed got more grief. I was so cross when I heard but never there (may have been a good thing for everyone’s temper).

Only my mother who though bf generally was unhygenic and improper.

maybe it would shut up if she’d feed it properly and give it a bottle

I have heard this so many times. One women even boasted to me that the young girl in the hospital bed opposite “clearly didn’t have any milk as the baby was crying all night”, so she very helpfully went over the next day and told her to give it a bottle so it was fed properly...

Never - I often bfed in public with DS and no one so much as gave me a funny look. That said, I have very small boobs, even when bfing, so it was probably easier for me than for some women to do it with it barely being noticeable, I literally had to pop open my bfing top and bra a fraction. At gatherings of friends and family, people would often sit down next to me and not realise I was feeding, assuming baby was just asleep in my arms.