to wonder why it seems people get increasingly negative about breastfeeding the older baby gets....

[DiplodocusDinosaur]

My ds2 is 9 mths, admittedly he is a very big baby and often mistaken for 1yr to 18mths. I bf on demand and have always happily, discreetly fed in public. Whereas when he was little I.e. under 6 mths I only ever got really positive comments and vibes for bf in public, now he is getting older I'm increasingly noticing negative looks and had the odd comment more than once. Today I took my ds1 and ds2 to a childrens farm, ds2 wanted a feed so I went to feed him and heard two mothers giggling and saying 'bitty, bitty'. And a week or so back another lady stopped in the country park I was in and told me ds2 was far to old for breast milk and it was fine for little babies to be bf in public but my baby was old enough to learn to wait.
Have i just had a couple of bad run ins or have others noticed bf reactions change as babies get older?

I very rarely need to feed ds2 when out and about (20 months) but if I did it wouldn't be due to hunger, it would be because he was tired or coming down with something or had hurt himself - so, comfort basically. I know exactly how he'd react to a bottle of expressed milk on these occasions!
He likes to feed standing on my knee on one leg with his arms thrown out as if he is flying. If anyone saw him the last thing they'd be looking at is my boob, so I suppose his antics have a positive side!

Ditto, Grumpy. My loveliest moment was sitting on a patch of grass in the Abbey Gardens in Bury St Edmunds when an old lady came up to me and said how nice it was to see a baby being fed the old-fashioned way.

I've always fed when they needed it. The death stare I developed still serves me well all these years later.

Clearly there are some lovely people in Bury St Edmunds.

When ds4 was born i never thought id be confident enough to feed him in public, or that id manage longer than a few months.

Hes nearly 14 months now and i do, i fed him in the pub on saturday infront of ds1 (19) grandparents who were surprised i was bf and shocked that an almost 14 mo would need to.

Lots of questions were asked

I've been watching these threads pop up for years now,someone always brings up flaunting or bf to make a point.

However nobody but nobody has ever been able to explain exactly how the flaunting happens or what flaunting and making a point about bf actually looks like,I'm also pretty sure that in all my decades as a human (a none reclusive one) I've never seen it myself.

I would google image it but I value my sanity,does anybody care to explain this occurrence.

Fwiw if my husband or children were offended by a breast feeding baby or child I would be so embarrassed that I would never mention it to anybody ever.

Goodness I didn't realise this thread had gained so much attention. Really wasn't about bf in public per se, morevabout changing attitudes as ds gets older. Always interesting to debate though.

highlandermam - Oh ignore blahblah2014 for starters she might as well just say blah blah cos that's all it sounds like. But she is a poster who thinks if you smoke in a moving car with children in it all the smoke goes out the window, so you'll all be forgiven for taking everything she says with a pinch of salt

Errrrrrrr wtf not me!

I'm not offended by breastfeeding, I can't think of the last time when I noticed any woman doing it BUT, if I were breastfeeding, I would be very offended at anybody coming up to me to comment at all, positively or negatively. It's nobody else's business and whilst you might think that all breastfeeding women welcome a 'pat on the head' some, most definitely, do not.

blahblahblah2014 Thu 13-Feb-14 16:05:01
Smoke in a car goes straight out the window (if the car is moving)

Not the case in a room

Nanny state alert!

From This thread right here

clap clap well done you for taking something out of context - I don't see why the focus for smoking ban around kids is on cars and not rooms where surely it is worse!

hmm blah well given you were accused of thinking smoke goes straight out the window of a car and you have been quoted as saying just that - I am not sure how much the context matters....

well it does - Do you disagree?

We are on a thread about breastfeeding, not smoking! Shall i start randomly pulling up all of your previous posts and quoting them for no apparant reason and calling you thick?

Well your attitude to bfeeding is thick. I some posters were just pointing out that you have made similar outrageously stupid comments on other subjects.

People might think you do it to be goady and cause a row.

What because i think it's unnecessary to BF older children? Doesn't make me thick it's just an opinion that differs to your own. Oh sorry, is that not what a forum debate is about? I was also not the only person to agree that BF post 5/6 months is non-beneficial the the child... And while we are back on the subject I think it's completely wrong that people are talking about BF a 7 year old, it's inappropiate to say the least!

Ok, explain how it can possibly not be beneficial to feed a baby human milk past your arbitrary age cut off of 5/6 months, when the milk than needs to be replaced by an artificial substitute if you stop?

We can't really say it's exactly the same to give a baby fresh milk of it's own species, compared to a product made from carefully modified dried cow's milk?

It doesn't master what context you read your comment about smoke going out the window, it's still ridiculously daft.

You said you find it weird and creepy to see babies over 'a few months old's bfeeding and that it's unnecessary.

That's an ill educated and thick attitude to bfeeding.

Of course bfeeding past 5/6 mths is beneficial and bfeeding to an older age is beneficial. It's the biological norm it's what human babies/children are designed to do.

You think it's inappropriate but it's actually the norm in many cultures.

i do find it weird and creepy to see a verbal child, eating, running around, playing...and then going to suck on his mums tit - It's not right and BF older children in this country is NOT the norm - Statitistics show that! It's also bad for their teeth. Plus, women should be back at work after 6-9 months so it wouldn't work out anyway

We have two issues being discussed here now.

1. Being uncomfortable with witnessing an 'older' child feeding, and
2. Being uncomfortable with being able to see a woman while she is feeding (even a) small baby.

I've been on the fence regarding breast feeding in public being a 'cause' that needed supporting. but this thread has been a bit of epiphany for me. I am EBFing my 7 week old DD, and till now have been wary about feeding 'in public', ie: not just in a corner of a cafe, or a 'suitable' room. BUT ...

... the most recent posts concerning the why's and wherefores about people having a right to not be near a woman who is feeding her baby (as lets face it you cant actually see the feeding process) have made me and frankly .

Sorry, but the talk of 'poor 45 year old men 'trying' to shop' and the sensibilities of 90 year olds being goods reason why women should think twice about feeding their baby is beyond a joke.

My grandmother could remember the days when it was rude to show your knees. And the days when it wasn't done for women to drive or wear trousers. Were all the knee showers and women drivers in her day ''making a song and dance''? Probably they were accused of it at the time. Supposing they'd taken notice ?? Where would we be?

Times change. Thank god. It's called progress.

The 'poor men' who might get flustered because there's a woman using her breasts near him, or the 90 yer olds who can remember the days when women were meant to be nothing but decorative and unobtrusive are the ones for whom it is, to coin a phrase, tough titty!

It's not bad for their teeth.

No longer term bfeeding isn't the norm in the UK, tho it's more prevalent than you would know ad many women do it at home because of judgemental attitudes.

Why 'should' women go back to work, not all women do and even if they do it doesn't mean they have to stop bfeeding, again showing how ill educated you are.

One of my children was talking before a year, three walked before a year, one at 8mths they still needed bfeeding. Milk is their main source of nutrition until a year and it's recommended to bfeed to two years and beyond for ad ling ad Mum and child are happy to.

Anyway blah you are just showing yourself to be ill educated and what a vile attitude you have towards bfeeding, still at least you show your opinion is not worth listening to.

The reason longer term breastfeeding isn't the norm in the UK is because we have a fucked up society that is only interested in women's breasts when they are used to thrill and excite men, and a society that views women's bodies as purely sexual. The fact that you say 'sucking on it's mother's tits' says a whole lot about how you view women's bodies.

And yes, you can have whatever opinion you want. Of course it is your right. Even if you are speaking utter shite.