Breastfeeding toddler in a shop, AIBU?

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To cut a long story short, out this morning and fed DS (2.5) sitting on a cushion seat in a shoe shop. A few other customers around but nobody even looking like they'd like to try on shoes. All other seats next to me completely free.

An assistant came up to me and said please can I do that somewhere else? The seats are for trying on seats only.

DS was done by this point anyway so I got up and left.

AIBU to have fed him there, and see it as an acceptable place to feed? No other people were sitting there and I wasn't preventing anyone from sitting next to us in the mny other seats avaible

I dont think it being legal (and it’s shocking we need legislation) means that children should be fed in places where it’s causing annoyance or disruption to others.

personally I don’t think a 2.5 year old needs breastfeeding instantly in a shop ASD or no ASD

Couldn’t agree more. And this why so many children are being brought up thinking their needs should be met NOW!

How many of the people saying "he can wait" have breastfed cranky toddlers?

Me, well actually she’s just turned two but would already have been told not yet.

How can anyone be against women breastfeeding their baby in public? Are they suppose to hide away like lepers?

OP you’re absolutely right. If a husband had been sat there he wouldn’t have been moved.
If your toddler needed a feed and the seats were free I don’t see any problem.
Was it a woman who moved you?

Actually disturbing the weird views on here from some about breastfeeding toddlers. It's entirely biologically normal. Just because you have a warped view of it doesn't mean the rest of the world should.

I think the breastfeeding is neither here nor there anyway. It was churlish of them to ask you to love from empty seats when you'd just spent money in their shop. If it was heaving, then I'd understand them wanting the seats for customers to try on, but while it's quiet and a paying customer? Seems unnecessary to me.

My 2.5 year old is also at difficult age. Most are. But she's well aware in certain environments melt down or not when told to wait she has to wait...

If you were done shopping then I'd have made my way out of the shop and done it in the car 🤷🏽‍♀️

My rule of thumb for appropriateness is 'would I give the baby/toddler' a drink in a bottle or cup there? In this instance the answer is yes, so YANBU.

A 2.5 yr old can wait for a snack feed. I wouldn't give my toddler a food snack in a shop, i would take him to a cafe, so I'm not sure why you think a breastfeed is acceptable in the middle of a shop.

and this is why so many children are being brought up thinking their needs should be met NOW!

Wow. Just wow. In response to another disgusting comment that regardless of ASD or not a 2.5 year old should be made to wait. So we have some pretty disgusting anti bf comments including a bitty one up thread and now we are into the realms of minimising ASD and insinuating it’s just what ? Demanding badly behaved children ?? Disgusting attitude

If you'd already bought the shoes then why couldn't you have breastfed in the car? It wouldn't have taken you that long to walk to the car surely? It seems to me you were trying to cause a scene

Less about the breast feeding and more about the location personally. You wouldn't sit down there and just get a book out or start having your lunch.

Do toddlers need to be fed in demand in the same way as newborns or could you have finished up there and gone somewhere designed for sitting, relaxing, eating?

It is attitudes like those expressed on this board which contribute to the uk's shockingly low breastfeeding rates. Very depressing... www.independent.co.uk/life-style/breastfeeding-rates-britain-lowest-world-channel-4-dispatches-kate-quilton-a8468416.html

Sometimes children do just have to wait. That’s life and they need to learn they can’t get everything the instant they want something.

How is someone quietly feeding a toddler on a chair for a few mins 'causing a scene'? Did OP then stick on nipple tassels and dance around the shop singing the Copacabana?

You wouldn't sit down there and just get a book out or start having your lunch.

You might however, take a drink from a bottle/cup/beaker, which is a much more accurate equivalent.

@LaurieMarlow surely it's different in the sense that you could take a few seconds to give the toddler a drink of juice in a bottle or carton and continue on as normal? Would you have sat down and proceeded to get out a packed lunch and have a picnic in the shoe area? Probably not.

i have breastfed a toddler too so don't think I'm anti but i don't think that's an appropriate place for it. i'd feed my 2 mo baby in a random shop (assuming i was actually buying something!) but i'd make the toddler wait for a coffee break/give him a bottle of water or snack instead.

This is one of the most sad depressing threads I have ever read , so many outdated backwards views against breastfeeding thought society had come further than this clearly not

surely it's different in the sense that you could take a few seconds to give the toddler a drink of juice in a bottle or carton and continue on as normal?

Bfing a toddler doesn’t take long either. You could be done in a minute or two.

If a beaker/bottle is appropriate I fail to see why a bf isn’t.

Would you have sat down and proceeded to get out a packed lunch and have a picnic in the shoe area?

Can we stop banging on about totally non equivalent actions, thank you. Food is much messier and more antisocial than drinking.

It does matter the age.

I breastfeed and my child is over 2.

But a 2.5 year old can wait and be distracted and be given other sources of food. A 2.5 month old however relies only on milk and so cannot wait if they’re crying.

I think you were being unreasonable. Just like it wouldn’t be right to sit there fixing your toddler his meal. It’s just not the place

How is a meal comparable? I just don't see it