Discreet breastfeeding [title edited by HQ]

[KnackeredMerrily]

Am I the only one to get furious when I keep reading people being 'reasonable' about breastfeeding.

"I dont mind people breastfeeding wherever they like as long as they're discrete about it."

There was NOTHING discrete about my breastfeeding. I didn't have the right breasts or the right latch to be able to be one of those who could do it with no one having a clue. Neither could I put a cover on - I needed to be able to keep a decent eye on him, make sure I wouldn't smother him with a boob, make sure he was attached and I never felt able to happily breathe under a cover (I have asthma) so I was never happy doing it to my son. For the first few months I used 2 hands feeding so it was tricky to establish latch under a cover and keep it so I could peek.

I feel that other women who cannot be discreet should be able to breastfeeds wherever they like and I feel a prang of pride everytime I am chatting to a Mum who is nonchalant about how much boob she shows when she is feeding. Good for them.

No new mother thinks "Hoorah, breastfeeding is a great excuse to get my tits out in public". It's always the caveat "as long as they're not showing anything", that really pisses me off. The ones that don't are not doing it for attention!!!

Ah balls, it seems discrete is a word with a different meaning that's why auto correct didn't stop me!

I think I've been exceptionally lucky as I've only ever had positive comments in over 3 years of breast feeding (2 separate children).

I'm pretty disgusted tho not surprised by farage's comments. The man's a prize twat who seem to regard anyone not exactly like him with a combination of contempt and suspicion.

Yes knackered- it has a discrete meaning to discreet.

Ba dum tsch.

The word is discreet, ffs.

Discrete breastfeeding would certainly get the thumbs up from Farage... Imagine a completely disembodied single boob - maybe it could grow a wee set of arms, carry your baby off into a cupboard or a box and feed it there in the dark while you continue to fulfil your UKIP-dictated purpose - sitting politely on a seat offered to you by a barking city gent, sipping a sweet sherry and making quiet chit-chat about tea roses.

Was Farage ever a baby, do you suppose? I've always imagined him congealing slowly into his present form.

That video is so ace, DoJo! Thank you.

See, whenever I breastfed in public, I had baby on one boob and stuck a tassle on my other boob and put on a show for all the viewers. Is that what Farage means by being discreet?

Good grief, if Farage thinks the average breastfeeding mother is ostentatious, what does that make him?

Farage thinks?

the Daily Mash on Farage & women - sums things up well:

www.thedailymash.co.uk/politics/politics-headlines/ukip-to-target-marginal-seats-with-no-women-2014120593591

The law needs to go further to support BF mothers, I mean do they want us to do it or not, simple as.

whilst some mothers just get on with it, discreet or not, many mums esp new mothers are nervous about it, its a huge change, of course it is.

The law needs to go further to support us, make it a proper offense to disturb or question or something...

They have announced today the savings to NHS is more women did it....

do they want it or not?

Barbarian mum that's a lovely image

Thank you BreconBeBuggered.

BarbarianMum Farage was not born, he was issued.

What gets me is the amount of negative media coverage breast feeding is getting at the moment. In the grand scheme of things, it's just so trivial isn't it, just one element of child rearing. It is going on all around you everywhere and you rarely notice because people are just getting on with it in whatever way they can. I really don't know why people feel they have to have a stance on this at all. Why did he even have to comment? Why did Claridges have to get involved the other day? It's as if people are courting trouble on the subject.

I think it was probably one silly prat at Claridges, not management.

I hate the use of

Flopping
bitty
comparison to urinating

gaah

"I think it was probably one silly prat at Claridges, not management."

It was two of them, And it was their 'rules'

It was at least two silly prats at Claridges, as the waiter was apparently supported by his manager.

Actually, come to think of it, it must go right through the organisation. On the other thread someone quoted an email received from the overall manager who said Claridges was awfully grieved about all this publicity, of course, they support breastfeeding, they just want people to be discreet in the interests of other customers.

In that case, DuelingFanjo, I apologise and management need their collective arse kicked hard.

But they have faced the Wrath of Mumsnet and may well have thought better of it by now!

The mind of the average person who feels moved to comment adversely on public breastfeeding is indeed a strange and murky place. Judging by things like DM comment columns:

Breastfeeding mothers don't have breasts, they have baps or dugs.
They don't arrange their clothes just enough to allow the baby access to the nipple, they "flop their baps out".
They don't sit there with the baby's head covering the one breast from which it is feeding, they ostentatiously wave both baps about.
They don't breastfeed because their baby needs food, they do it just to make a public demonstration.
The only natural functions to which breastfeeding can possible be compared are urination, defecation and procreation. It is in no way comparable to adults eating.
People who don't like seeing breastfeeding mothers in public places are unwilling subjected to having revolting milky baps waved in their faces. They are wholly unable to turn their heads to avoid this disgusting sight.

yanbu

I ff both of mine but this makes my blood boil. Lots of things make me feel uncomfortable: people who smell bad, pick their nose, those who eat with their mouths open, those who talk shit. Why isn't Farage banging on about these?

Oh it'll be because it's a controlling women issue yet again.

And where are these women flashing their boobs around on every high street? People generally want to breastfeed as discreetly as possible don't they?

Yes tobys mum and first time mums who are trying to BF are nervous about doing it in public which is where they will be doing it if they are BF all the time,

so why waste all this money on BF support, literature, NHS campaigns if when the mums go into public, they are ridiculed and made to feel naughty, dirty or bad.

why

I think we should all write to david cameron and ask him.

And Fancy is quite right; I've had countless incidents of friends and family coming to take a peek at baby and only realising she is feeding when they are right on top of us. And I struggled with my latch and never stressed about being discreet. Unless a woman takes her top off, once a baby is on, there's really nothing to see.

Baking tins- self swivelling neck . I absolutely love that!