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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think perhaps this wasn't the most appropriate way to bf baby in a public place?

464 replies

lollipopz · 27/02/2009 14:29

OK I am usually all for breast feeding have breast fed all 3 of my dcs and if they were hungry in restraunt on train etc I would cover and feed them, however this shocked me.
Was in supermarket last night with 2 dds aged 5 and 7. Dds had nipped off to pick up some juice when dd1 rushed up to me with a bright red face and ushered my to the next aisle. There was a woman standing with her shirt unbuttoned feeding a baby who was sat upright in a trolley so every one that walked by could see exactly what she was doing and also had a clear view of her other boob that was hanging out her bra . Not only that the baby must have been about 7 or 8 months and was straining to reach as she sort of crouched to it's level.
Surely this is not the best way and she could have left her trolley and went into the baby room she didn't have that much stuff in there any way.

OP posts:
StayFrosty · 28/02/2009 20:50

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

HerBeatitudeLittleBella · 28/02/2009 21:02

PMSL. I don't need to experiment to know it wouldn't work for me - am simply not dextrous or tall enough.

Will look out for slightly mad looking women hovering their norks in an odd position over their trolleys...

HenriettaJones · 28/02/2009 21:58

PMSL I think I might need to go to Morrisons tomorrow....

I'm short with small boobs so I'll let you know how it goes.

OP says baby was "straining to reach" as the mum "crouched to its level" So boobs must have been higher than a 7/8 month baby sitting in a trolley.

I might look around for similar aged babies and surreptitiously stand next to them to get an idea of the height of this woman...

theyoungvisiter · 01/03/2009 08:56

HHe he, I shall try this in Sainsburys tomorrow. I will have 2 yo DS in an upright seat and 2 month old DS in a lie-back seat so can report on both.

I will be in Sainburys - so keep an eye out for me, MNers.

Perhaps we should do a mass experiment at a certain time, like those You Tube flash-mob things?

Original poster
lollipopz · 01/03/2009 16:29

She was quite tall and heavy built, boobs were kina arerage for her size didn't look that much!

OP posts:
supergluebum · 01/03/2009 16:36

It just sounds super uncomfortable for both baby and the mother , did she carry on pushing the trolley? If not she might as well have sat down fgs. But in the coffee bit, not the yukky room at the back that probably smells of wee

Original poster
lollipopz · 01/03/2009 16:46

When I saw her she was just standing there, in all honesty I saw her for 30 seconds maximum. Don't know if she was on her own or if her dh was fetching the shopping maybe? Either that or she was pacifying the baby with I quick feed I honestly do not know

OP posts:
pamelat · 01/03/2009 19:52

How strange.

I breast fed and was happy in public to feed discretely (not shut away in rooms but just sat having a drink in a cafe). I think this sounds like very odd behaviour.

She could have worn the baby in a sling and let him/her feed (know heavy but its better than going topless in your local shop!!), she could have gone to a cafe, or timed the shop to be at a none feed time (at 6 months its hardly constant?)

claireybeemine · 01/03/2009 20:37

Surely if the baby was in one of those reclining thingies it would have been even harder to achieve?!

FWIW, I am 5'2 with v small boobs and ds managed to latch himself on just fine, he was sat upright and lunged at me. He seemed perfectly comfortable (he'd choose to feed upright rather than being cradled a lot of the time anyway) but the trolley was digging into me so I took him out to feed (sat on a pile of rugs IIRC)

claireybeemine · 01/03/2009 20:39

Aaaargh! Just realised that made it sound as if I was the forriner lunatic woman in the OP.

I am NOT, I was refering to the aforementioned IKEA incident

Horton · 01/03/2009 20:58

At six months, I was feeding constantly. I know not everyone is cursed* with a child like mine but they do exist. And she wasn't topless!

Anyway, thank you clairey, I for one am v v grateful, we know know what size and shape you have to be to achieve this feat.

*blessed, I mean blessed, really. Honestly.

Horton · 01/03/2009 20:58

I mean the weirdy lunatic extreme breastfeeder wasn't topless. Not my daughter.

Horton · 01/03/2009 21:02

Argh. NOW know. Sorry.

mrsgboring · 02/03/2009 12:13

All these "she could haves" really mean "I could have with my baby" but you don't know what the breastfeeding woman was and wasn't capable of with hers, either because of latching difficulties, SN in herself or baby. Or perhaps she was mental with exhaustion and didn't think of another way at that moment.

The message that is coming through loud and clear is don't whatever you do, expose your breasts. It would have finished BF for me if I'd had to submit to this attitude. Unfortunately, I've probably exposed myself briefly to many many people in my breastfeeding career so far. No-one has fainted or died though, and when I apologised to my extremely uptight university friend for flashing him really badly over the breakfast table one time, he said

"For God's sake, it's only a nipple"

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