AIBU for being annoyed?

[blueyavocado]

it might sound a bit but we were all having Christmas dinner and my sister in law breastfed my 2 year old niece multiple times throughout the meal and was then complaining that her daughter wouldn’t eat any food.

It just hit a raw nerve with me her breastfeeding her daughter throughout the meal when she’s a toddler , I get the benefits of it , my sons a similar age , but to be doing it throughout a meal just annoyed me and rubbed me up the wrong way that I walked away from the meal .

what’s your opinion, is it it appropriate to be feeding a toddler at the family table?

Perfectly fine by me to be feeding a toddler at the table.

I wouldn’t have any problem with this. Kids need to eat when they need to eat

You walked away from the meal?? This is a you problem, not a her problem. You’ve cut off your nose to spite your face there.

Saying that, the complaining that she wouldn’t eat food would be a minor irritation for me. Obviously the toddler will choose boob over food. But you clearly have an issue with the breastfeeding itself.

Yabu. Wouldnt bother me. Ive done the same. Would feed my 2yr old anywhere

I think at 2 that’s unreasonable as well. Surely she’s eating food by now?
Which makes me suspect your post.

It's 2025 so we've accepted that breastfeeding is a perfectly normal thing to do. If the kid was hungry and wasn't going to eat the food in front of them what was she supposed to do, let the kid grizzle/cry and ruin the meal for everyone?

Feeding your child with your body that was made to feed a child while other people are feeding themselves is completely absolutely fine in every way.

Filling your child up with milk, while complaining that your child won't eat other food is stupid, unless the complaints are really being sad that your child has a serious psychological or physical eating disorder and the breast milk is all they can manage to eat.

Absolutely nothing to do with you so don't know why you'd be annoyed. Id assume the child is overwhelmed to be seeking comfort like that.

She was meeting her child's needs. It wasn't any of your business, and it beyond weird to get upset about it.

You walking away from a family meal was very rude.

But the mum was complaining the child wasn't going to eat anything so fed her another way...so she is eating but I expect with the change of routine, the larger gathering of people, the big sit down meal that would be dragging on for a 2 year old...she was out of sorts and refused food

Was she feeding the child because they were upset? I breastfed both mine age 2 and would have fed them in this context to try and calm them- especially if with others trying to reduce them causing disruption. It’s an odd time of year for small kids and they may have been deregulated.

Where would you like her to have fed her child?
Is the meal table not for meals??

Of course it’s fine. Where else should she have fed her?

You left the table? It's a tit. That's what they're there for.

My LO boob fed constantly Christmas day, think with the change of routine and general madness of the day it was more a comfort thing.

No way. It’s just unnecessary for a 2 year old who is also presumably eating solids. A baby of course no problem at all but that was completely unacceptable. I fed all of mine to 2-3 years but wouldn’t have dreamed of that being the right time or place. Smacks of a parent not prepared to get the child sat at the table eating food and took the easy option. It’s got nothing to do with the right to breastfeed. It’s got everything to do with teaching your children what is appropriate and how to eat a family meal.

She probably would have prefered her to feed her in the toilets...

But there's a time and a place to teach them, ie your house, your nuclear family. Definitely not on Christmas day in front of all the family. The child is 2, cognitive function isn't renowned for being that high in 2 year old to make them realise that they have to sit for an hour plus and eat what they are told to eat.

Yuck. Performative and unnecessary to do this with a 2 yo and shove (t)it in everyone's faces at a special/formal occasion. Take the kid off to an empty room.

I read this different. Not that OP had the hump necessary about the breastfeeding but the mother breastfeed, but then got upset that her daughter wouldn't eat the meal.

There are times and places. If you expect your child to sit in a chair and eat food with everyone at the Christmas dinner table then breastfeeding them first is a bit silly, especially if your gonna be upset with them when they refuse the meal.

I expect if she hadn't breastfed her the op would have been moaning about the toddler being disruptive or tantruming.

Honestly, the whining on here today about fuck all is insane. Why are people actively looking to fall out with people on Christmas day?

Don't be deliberately obtuse. You don't need to sit at a table to breastfeed/be breastfed - in fact, it's easier not to have a table in front of you, especially with a child that size.

The child is not at home with a day that is unlike other days with food they don’t normally eat. Christmas is overwhelming for youngsters and she was seeking food and comfort in the best way for her.

Youd have preferred your sister in law to leave the table to feed her child and eat separately after she’d finished? So you’d have been happy for her to miss out eating Christmas dinner with the rest of the family or further unsettle her child by refusing to breast feed her?

Most two year olds aren’t breast-feeding. (I bf both of ours. They were weaned by 1).

Wow, I missed that bit of the op. I'd be annoyed too if a guest was shoving their tits in people's faces. Seems an unusual way to breastfeed mind you ..most people manage it without even showing their boob let alone waving them around in people's faces.

No two year old needs to be breast-fed at the dinner table. Obviously.