to think nearly all the mums I see are bottle feeding?

[newmumma2015]

Not judging those who can't breastfeed but when taking my new born out the past 3 months I've only seen one other mum breastfeeding. Are you all hiding?

Last time I checked Breastfeeding wasn't a spectator sport, so I think that's why you don't see it too much as people don't try and attract attention doing it.

And those babies that do make a fuss, tend to end up being feed away from others as they feed better without so many distractions about.

Thanks Cloggal

@worra
thank you WhyStannis

Same here - I never see any breastfeeding around here. I breastfed but never in public - maybe there are lots of shy breast feeders like me?

sugar I am so sorry for your loss

So what?

PontyGirl you have it nailed on.

sugar I am so sorry for your loss.

I've moved abroad to a country where bfing rates are much lower and women who do be are much less likely to feed in public (more mix feeding, expressed milk in bottles and use of feeding rooms and bf covers). It has made me think what I would do if I had another baby and I do think it would make me a lot more uncomfortable about bfing in public using the "two tops method" of covering up which I used in the UK despite having the same legal protections here I think.
So I think YANBU, OP.

I really don't get why people care about what other people do.
other people not BF their kids is no one else's business.
the kids will not care, as long as they are loved, fed and cared for, they will not care.\imo it is just a women bashing women exercise.

They may be hiding or possibly a bit exhausted from nighttime feeding which I have to admit limited the amount of energy I had in the day for going out in the early days! I also found it easier to feed at home and go out once DD was asleep.

Not everyone who is seen bottle feeding is the child's mother. DiL got pitying looks from a woman breastfeeding very publicly in the Roald Dahl Museum. I wanted to tell her he's a foster child, but then decided it wasn't really anyone else's business.

"I really don't get why people care about what other people do.
other people not BF their kids is no one else's business."

OK - this might help.

It's obviously not socially or morally acceptable or reasonable for people to make personal comments about the way their friends, acquaintances, or people they meet randomly in the street, feed their offspring. This applies to comments about how they feed their older children as well as their babies.

However, it is perfectly reasonable to hold opinions (and to express them in the context of an anonymous debate on a debate forum like this) about how children are fed generally and the impact this has on health at a population level. This applies not just to older children but to babies and to the adult population.

In other words - it's not in any way weird, unreasonable or oppressive to have an opinion (and to express this opinion in the right context) about the way babies are fed.

"DiL got pitying looks from a woman breastfeeding very publicly in the Roald Dahl Museum"

Many references to 'pitying looks' or 'dirty looks' made by both breastfeeding and ff mothers on these threads, also epic levels of defensiveness about feeding choices.

Have you ever considered that the two go hand in hand? People being defensive about their feeding choices and then being convinced that others are giving them dirty looks........ it's all in your imagination

As far as I'm aware the only looks I've had from people when feeding my baby are along the "awww tiny baby" lines.

I don't feel judged but also don't care if someone does judge me for formula feeding. I'm sure someone has/does/will though.

It was a foster baby! I knew this, the bf woman didn't so why would it be in my imagination?
I quite like watching babies bf. It brings back happy memories of when my own DC were small.

"Last time I checked Breastfeeding wasn't a spectator sport, so I think that's why you don't see it too much as people don't try and attract attention doing it."

I've lived in a country where over half of all two year olds are still being breastfed. Breastfeeding was highly visibly.

I feed in public all the time and I know far more breastfeeders than formula feeders. Think it depends where you live. When I lived in a South Eastern village I was the only breastfeeder I knew. I still fed in public though.

"It was a foster baby! I knew this, the bf woman didn't so why would it be in my imagination?"

But she definitely gave you a 'dirty look'. What does a 'dirty look' look like?

Like this?

The large majority of babies in the UK are bottle fed, plus babies taken out by anyone other than their mother will have a bottle, plus there are babies being fed expressed milk in bottles, plus some breastfeeding mothers are too embarrassed or nervous to feed publicly, and others do it so discreetly you wouldn't notice. So you will see more bottle fed babies. I have been the only breastfeeding mother at virtually all the groups I go to, it does feel awkward, but luckily for me I remember that I don't give a fuck how anyone else feeds their baby and I don't expect anyone to give a fuck how I feed mine.

I said a 'pitying look', Nicole. Anyway I just wanted to make the point that we never know the back story when we see strangers with their babies.

People shouldn't try to interpret 'looks'. Most people are no good at it. If I'm looking at a baby I'm thinking"aww baby," but I've been told in other situations I look nervous, sad, scared and angry when I'm nothing of the kind so a paranoid or defensive person could take my expression the wrong way.

Never try and interpret 'looks' the majority of the general public have awful torn-faces in repose!

I BF. I use a cover. I have premixed aptamil in my bag and a breast pump. Who knows what or where his next meal is coming from!

Though dh has compared expressed milk in a bottle as 'buying a can of coke and it's full of draft!' (Not for him obviously!)

I don't understand the hostility to the OP.

Some areas of the UK have extremely low bf levels, which is a societal and public health issue. One of the reasons it's so low is that it isn't normalised in a lot of communities.

More women visibly bf makes other women feel more comfortable doing it and it becomes a self perpetuating cycle.

I had my DS in a hospital in a nearby town to where I was living at the time. I was in a rather rural setting, and the town was about 30 minutes away by car. I was always seeing breastfeeding people in the area, and yet after I had delivered, the nurses in the town were all utterly shocked when I tried to breastfeed. According to one charmer, the only people who breastfed anymore were "hippie armpit losers and earth-zen mothers who care more about recycling than personal hygiene". And yes, that is a direct quote.

I couldn't believe that it was so chop-and-change. Made me feel even worse when I couldn't breastfeed.