to think this woman kicks ass!

[littlepigshavebigears]

went to meeting of Core Offer Monitoring Group at local children's centre (like a governing body)

one of my fellow parent governors was there, she is chair of one of the committees and there was an Ofsted bod in there asking questions

this mum turned up dressed to kill, looking gorgeous, breastfed her 8mo ds in front of a roomful of people (most of them suits) without turning a hair while talking about the information the )Ofsted bloke wanted - at one point she said "Oh yes, the figures you want are in that black file to my left, if somebody could just pass it to you as I am feeding the baby"

I wish I had had that much confidence when mine were little

Hero worship or sisterly appreciation? Interesting debate or offensive name-calling?

not sure if she merits hero worship TBH.....its just BF, no biggie

and I dont think that 8 months need to fed on demand in the same way that a 4 week old does! await flaming, but by that age they are on 3 meals a day!!!!. I would completely understand if this occured with a small baby, but an 8 month old smacks of being a bit showy IMO.

"smacks of being a bit showy" - eh? Porc, for you to come out with that claptrap and also say, "It's just bf, no biggie" is exactly why it's a biggie because numpties come out with such moronic prejudices.

The WHO recommends children are bf'd until 2, regardless of which country they live in. And who says 8 months old don't need to bf'd on demand? If they want it, why on earth not?

By the attitudes on this thread it shows that you have to be tough and brave o do what this woman did. It's not just whoopydoo she fed a baby, it's there are lots and lots of people waiting to judge her and call her unprofessional and yet she still managed to do it all and capably.
It shouldn't be wow she's good but sadly because of peoples reactions thats exactly what it makes it.

I'm lucky that my friends on a committee I was on were fine with me breastfeeding ds. It wasn't such an official meeting but still.
If they hadn't been I wouldn't have been able to attend due to lack of available childcare, ability to afford childcare and a baby who wouldn't take a bottle but would have wanted feeding at the time our meetings were at (beforebed feed). It would also meant the playgroup wouldn't have been able to continue as they wouldn't have had the comittee numbers and I would have bee less likely to help at events too.

It's grim, you said what I tried to say in much fewer words

I'd also point out that a lot of voluntary organizations absolutely depend on keeping their committed committee/board members, it takes time to train and get people started, and losing great committee members over the odd child-care issue or breastfeeding once every now and again doesn't make any sense at all. My husband stayed on the preschool committee for years as there wasn't anyone willing to take over and they had difficulty recruiting after he left (nobody cared that he turned up with a two year old every now and again, they were just incredibly grateful he turned up at all).

If only women with no child-care responsibilities or not breastfeeding do voluntary work, the pool is going to get smaller and smaller. The Big Society is coming whether we like it or not, and it will need to be all hands to the pump. Voluntary organizations will have to be grateful for the help they get, not bitch about how in an ideal world they would have fully dependent-free trained professionals doing unpaid work.

I hasten to add that there are no voluntary organizations bitching on here, just plenty of people who think you should pay for child-care to do a voluntary job or not do one at all, in case any terrible slurping noises are accidentally heard in a meeting.

breastfeeding women aren't welcome in the Big Society though, lest they upset the delicate sensibilities of people doing fuckall themselves others.

Actually, I think that women NOT breastfeeding in professional situations is what contributes to the stereotyping/marginalisation of women - we're supposed to pretend that we don't have children, and that they don't sometimes have inconvenient needs, as any admission that we do (and they do) is taken as proof that we can't do our jobs and they should have hired a man.

If Ed Miliband can hold meetings with his baby on his knee, why can't we? Oh yes, because when he does it he's a down-to-earth new man, but if a woman did it she'd be incompetent and unprofessional.

When the baby's on my boob, I don't become incapable of speech and thought - even if some of the people around me do!

totally support tghe normalisation of public breast feeding.
Isn't it tipical that the lack of support is because she was making a show of herself and trying to make a point.
Any improvement for women ALWAYS starts with a woman being criticized for non tipical behaviour. Making a show of herself.

dancingcat you then kick ass too!!! :)

Err no i don't think she kicks ass!

Mary Portas kicks ass!

YANBU - this story makes me very happy!