Mum asked to stop breastfeeding a TWO YEAR OLD in shoe shop.

[GinaDavva]

Mixed feelings with this one. Shaming a mother publicly breastfeeding a small baby is never acceptable but breastfeeding a two year old child in a shop? Surely at that age a bottle is more convenient in the middle of a shop? My first thought was that this was more about attention than the actual principle of the matter. After breastfeeding 3 of my own I can honestly say there has never been a time where it felt necessary to start breastfeeding any of mine in the middle of a shop at two years old. Frankly at that age they wouldn’t find much in mine anyway!

www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cj3z31jn7v1o

I BF my 16 month old out and about all the time. Why would anyone have an issue with it? I couldn't care less if someone was giving a bottle to the baby of the same age.

How is it more convenient to cart a bottle and milk around than it is to get a boob out?

I can't help but feel that those that judge harshly are perverted.

I can't really imagine a situation in which I would ever find it unreasonable for a mother to feed her child.

I know a woman who absolutely killed herself to breastfeed her baby who was born at 30 weeks. She done extended breastfeeding and it is a massive source of pride for her that when there was so little she could do, she could do that. But it doesn't need to be so extreme - any woman who wants to breastfeed at any time, any place has my full support.

And what a shame to read this thread and see people immediately taking the opportunity to piss on breastfeeding AND formula.

What's indecent about it?

what has it got to do with you how a random woman feeds her child????

utterly wrong of the shop to tell the mum not to but unfortunately I think there's rather a few too many mums who think the solution to their childs distress is to put a boob in their mouth rather than teach their child other skills in self soothing. its the equivalent of sticking a dummy in the kids mouth and we would rightly tell mums they shouldnt be doing this at age 2. It's absolutely nothing to do with nutrition at the age.

I think people breastfeeding for attention is a myth.

What is wrong with you?

You don’t need to say TWO YEAR OLD in capital letters like that. It comes across as judgemental. There’s no right or wrong with when to stop breastfeeding. There is good evidence it’s beneficial for the child as a toddler just as it is for a baby. Just because you didn’t want to, that’s your business but other people are different.

And breastfeeding is a protected characteristic under the 2010 Equality Act so regardless of anyone’s feelings, the mother is legally protected to breastfeed wherever she likes, and the law makes no comment on the age of the child.

maternityaction.org.uk/advice/breastfeeding-in-public-places/

YOU clearly want to, how bizarre.

If not breastfeeing - and criticising women who do breastfeed - helps your self respect, good for you.

Just don't expect other women to respect you for it.

I don't feed my kids in a shoe shop, breast/ bottle or snacks. What's wrong with YOU? 😂

They’re not supposed to have bottles at that age.

Completely normal to breastfeed a two year old and it’s a shame it’s seen as strange or inappropriate. I fed my 20m old in the doctors yesterday waiting for my older ones flu jab because he’d just woken up from a nap and was super grumpy because he wasn’t at home and it settled and comforted him.

I'm embarrassed for people who are so brainwashed by formula marketing they actually can't cope with the sight/thought of breastfeeding toddlers, eg a completely developmentally normal and beneficial human behaviour we have engaged in without stigma for millennia... Until formula marketing.

Breastfeeding at this age is about a lot more than simple feeding.

totally

The child was upset.

Neither of those were in play when I stopped breastfeeding (when DD turned 1) - I just got fed up with her scraping her teeth across my nipples!

It’s not just ridiculous but ignorant. The reason formula is so popular in western societies is because of agressive marketing (to make profit for others) and because societally, women are forced to separate from their children very young (to work, to make profit for others).

Breastfeeding duration correlates with the mother’s education level.

congratulations on spectacularly missing the point

Two year olds don’t need to breastfeed in public (nor do they need bottles). Give the child a water bottle with a straw for sips of water if they’re thirsty. If they’re hungry, then take them for a meal / snack.
Of course, if they’re ill and need to feed for comfort then it’s different, but stay at home and look after them properly and don’t drag them around the shops.

I fed both DC to early toddler age (14 ish months I think). I never fed in public once they were well on the way to weaning, at around 6-8 months. It’s just not necessary.

who on earth gives formula to a 2 year old?

It's really not relevant how old the child was or what the reason for breastfeeding was. A mum should be allowed to breastfeed her child. I don't understand why people make such a drama out of it. You see more skin on most music videos and it's perfectly possible to just not look. I have had full on conversations with breastfeeding mothers on multiple occasions and never once seen her breast and even if I did how weird would I have to be to be offended by it?!