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AIBU?

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Original poster

To be so upset and angry because of complaint about my friend breastfeeding?

720 replies

memoo · 17/05/2009 14:59

My friend and work colleague had a DD 6 months ago. We both work in a primary school.

Several weeks ago my friend visited her old reception class in school. The class topic has been 'Growing' ang the reception teacher thought it would be nice for my friend to bring her DD in during the lesson where they would be talking about babies.

I've just had a phone call from my friend and I'm really angry at what she told me.

Apparently at the end of the lesson in school my friend needed to feed her DD and so sat quietly in the reading corner away from the children while she BF.

Friend had a call from the head on Friday telling her that a parent has complained about her BF'ing in front of the children

This parent said that her DS had said he had seen Mrs "boobies" and had been a bit giggley about it.

The head is being lovely and only spoke to my friend about purely to let her know what has happen and as far as I know this parent has been put in her place.

I am just so shocked that this parent could do this. I know the parent in question and the more I think about it I#m getting more and more angry!!!!

OP posts:
piscesmoon · 17/05/2009 19:45

I would have bf in a classroom-why ever not? There was nothing to see.However can you talk about a baby and pretend that they live on fresh air!

Thunderduck · 17/05/2009 19:45

Little wonder that breastfeeding rates are so low when women are made to feel ashamed of breastfeeding in public. What nonsense.

Gunnerbean · 17/05/2009 19:45

She wouldn't be hiding it away from them at all - just going home as far as they were concerned.

As part of explaining to them how she looked after and cared for her baby she could have told them she fed it with her breasts rather than with a bottle, and told them that was what was best for babies. That would have reinforced the positive message about breastfeeding would it not?

She could then have waved them all goodbye and told them that she was off to do just that. Did they need to actually witness her doing it - in the book corner or anywhere else for that matter?

Flocci · 17/05/2009 19:45

But they weren't taught about what babies eat were they? They talked about babies in general and then this woman decided to go and BF in the corner. Discreetly.

daftpunk · 17/05/2009 19:46

i b/f my ds...he is 9 now.....if i told him how he was fed i think he would faint.

Thunderduck · 17/05/2009 19:47

I still fail to see the problem. It's crazy to learn about babies and not what they eat imho, and even if the lesson had been about another topic,I still don't think it's a problem.

hercules1 · 17/05/2009 19:47

The fact that your children, Flocci, have never seen anything like that is more reason to normalise breastfeeding.

AbricotsSecs · 17/05/2009 19:48

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

FrannyandZooey · 17/05/2009 19:48

i don't see how you can learn about babies without talking about bfing
really
it's all they do!

Flocci · 17/05/2009 19:49

Lots of things are normal but I don't necessarily want my kids to learn about them by chance at school. Especially without any explanation.

daftpunk · 17/05/2009 19:50

exactly flocci

FrannyandZooey · 17/05/2009 19:50

wondering what people think of this clip from sesame street? obviously was thought worthwhile to teach children about breastfeeding

mummylight · 17/05/2009 19:50

Ignorant, uneducated springs to mind. Mothers who cannot be bothered to breast feed and lets face it there is plenty of them. There the only ones that would have a problem with a women breastfeeding in public. I breastfed both children very discreatly and yes in public!! if anyone looked it just looked like the baby was sleeping. My babies weregiven the best start Fact ! breast is best! We need to start teaching our children that it is a that breastfeeding is a perfectly natural thing to do. So we can stop this new trend of young mums not even giving breastfeeding a go. Then maybe the future would be a much brighter healthier one for our children.

TheCrackFox · 17/05/2009 19:51

Would your DCs need to be there if the teacher explained that a calf sucks on its mums udder? Or is it just tits you are weird about?

FrannyandZooey · 17/05/2009 19:52

i think children should learn about bfing in school
if we want them to bf their own children they really need to see it as normal
i'm sad to hear some of your dc have never seen anyone bf and would not know how babies are fed

piscesmoon · 17/05/2009 19:52

'.....if i told him how he was fed i think he would faint. '

How strange! I don't think that I have come across a single DC who would be in the least bothered.They tend to know if they were bf or bottle fed anyway. When I have done that particular unit with infants they have taken home a questionaire about themselves as a baby and that has been one of the questions.

daftpunk · 17/05/2009 19:54

for a start..babies can be bottle fed....some women can't b/f..

wotulookinat · 17/05/2009 19:54

Ahem, mummylight, I am neither ignorant nor uneducated. However, I do not class a classroom as a public place.

Flocci · 17/05/2009 19:54

I'm pretty cool with tits and udders equally, but would be equally upset if a calf sucked from its mum's udder in the corner of the classroom.

Why is it important for our dc to know how children are fed actually?

piscesmoon · 17/05/2009 19:54

'Lots of things are normal but I don't necessarily want my kids to learn about them by chance at school. Especially without any explanation. '

They weren't learning about it by chance and it would have been explained.

moondog · 17/05/2009 19:55

I was invited into a pretty rough school (with an MW team who do something every year for breastfeeding week) with my baby to feed her.Kids were great, and they were mixed sex, 10-11 years old.

I know a lot of the mums and they all told me the kids had liked it. Most of them were bottlefeeders and nonone expressed anything but interest.

Who knows, it may have planted a seed in one or two minds that the road to buying Cow & Gate is not pre-determined.

FrannyandZooey · 17/05/2009 19:55

"Why is it important for our dc to know how children are fed actually?"

why us it important for our dc to know anything about how the world works?

WoTmania · 17/05/2009 19:56

But surely breasts are sexual and for her DH?

YANBU
Wouldn't it be nice if all babies got human milk and BF was the norm? Then that child would have gone home, told his mum what had happened at school and maybe said 'and mrs XYZ fed her baby too' end of.

chaya5738 · 17/05/2009 19:56

See what!? Another person eating? Honestly, children are a lot more resilient and unfazed by things than you give them credit for.

piscesmoon · 17/05/2009 19:56

My DSs school had a farm that brought in some farm animals-part of the attraction is watching them feed their young.