Am I the only mum in N Ireland who bf in public?

[PeanutButter99]

Hey mums!
Let me know if you're out there.
I've never seen any of you :)

I'm not in NI, but the in laws are there. I fed in public lots with DD and will again with DC if all goes well (am only 8 weeks pregnant).

i agree it seems less common, but people were nice. A few 'surprised' looks, but nothing nasty

I bf in public!

I was reading about bfing rates a few months ago. NI has one of the lowest bf rates in the world. If we bf in public we are pioneers!

Peanut, whereabouts in NI are you? I'm in Newtownabbey area.

I have bf in public twice now I think... Once was right in the middle of a coffee-shop with a couple of friends I met in a breast-feeding support group (so no resort to the bottle of expressed milk there, then...) and another time in a cafe with my mum and granny.

I've never seen anyone else do it 'indoors' publically, but recently my DH saw a woman bf sitting on a bench in Coleraine's Diamond area and we saw a woman do it outdoors in Portstewart.

Wish it was more common here...

Oh, and I bf at the above-mentioned bf-support group meetings, and also at parents n' tots group. DC is 12 weeks old.

I live in Craigavon and work in Belfast. DS is 3 months old and we go everywhere and bf all over the place. Can't take EBM with me as I'm stockpiling it for my return to work in 2 weeks :)

Everyone I know here ff (except for 1 person and she mix feeds). For most of them bf wasn't even an option!

I never made it to any support groups as I started to work from home when DS was 7 weeks plus 1 day in the office.

well I have bf in public when visiting family in NI, but it certainly isn't common. When I had DC1 my mother tried to discourage the whole unseemly practice, then tried to get me to feed only in my bedroom!

Hey peanut - we've been chatting about returning to work previously. Didn't know you were local. I'm in Bangor and have bf all over including af 2 committee meetings at BMA house (think conference table surrounded by men in their 50s in grey suits). Other work type meetings, in numerous cares, shopping centres, parks, wherever. Saw one mum ever in an M&S cafe on Boucher Rd. She was faffing around trying to keep herself covered with a muslin but babe kept pulling it off. She looked really stressed. I just wap them out as and when and no one has said anything. I do go to a bf group but back to work in 2 weeks which scuppers that. All my other friends are ff despite starting off bf. Everyone seems obsessed with routines. Talk about a ff culture!

I bfeed in public...here in N Ireland and wherever we've been on holiday.

MamaMary, if your dh saw someone feeding at the Diamond in the past 4-6 weeks it was probably my friend, she mentioned feeding there recently. The lady in Portstewart could have been me!

I've been there! I claimed that if the visitors had a problem with it then they could go to my bedroom! :o

Find myself willing DS to be hungry when we're in public just so I can feed and get bf out there in the open.

It's like an underground club over here. We are pioneers TLC!

Hey Molly! What is it about routines?? I just go with the flow and it's so much easier. DS eats and sleeps when he wants during the day and had been sleeping through from 9 weeks!

Whenever anyone asks me when he next needs fed, I just say when he's hungry. They all look surprised. 'But how do you know when he's hungry? How do you know how much he gets? Is that not wierd not knowing when you have to feed him? Blah blah blah.....'

Haven't had that problem. Dd2 is also known as the milk vampire and is in a constant state of being aggrieved due to being nipple deficient. She's 21 weeks and anywhere we go the boobs are out. I was at the not very Big into Baby show on Saturday and I saw no one else bf. They had a crappy cubicle at the back beside the nappy changing cubicle for bf. Bugger that. We were out and proud in the Streat. Funny thing is I've never had anyone say anything when I've bf in public. My GP reckons it's because I'm too scary to approach!

I noticed that my in-laws were encouraging me to feed DD in the car before we went out to eat in Holywood. I found it really odd as they were otherwise very supportive. DH suggested that there is an element of snobbery (as well as prudishness) about it because in NI bfeeding is thought of as something that the less wealthy do as the well-off can afford to FF.

LOL! I've never had anyone say anything to me either when I've been bf.

And what is it about feeding rooms being beside or in nappy changing facilities. They don't ask adults to have their lunch in the toilet so why are they asking our children to feed there? I'm glad I don't feel self conscious and don't have to use them, but I feel sorry for people that do. Stupid crappy feeding rooms!

Mmmmm, I never realised I'd feel this passionate about bf when I started. I'm all about the woman's right to bf anywhere but as you say Molly this doesn't seem to be the problem. The problem is the shockingly low rates of bf here in NI and the 'I'm not even going to try to bf' culture.

I am in NI too, I don't bf but have to say have noticed a huge increase in bf mums since I had dd1 5 years ago (although maybe thats because I notice it more )

Have seen feeding in most of the cafes I've been in, at gymnastics class, museum etc. Although to be honest most of bf mums that I know are middle class.

Hey Wiggles. In which cafes do you see bf in?
I've bf many times in M&S in Sprucefield :)

But I've never seen anyone else here bf and I've been looking :o

My dd is not quite 5 months and I keep getting asked when I'm going to start her on formula. The idea that I could actually skip formula completely seems ludicrous even to friends who did bf. I'm seen as very strange.

The Yellow door cafe in Lisburn, most Clements, cafes in leisure centres and its practically de rigeur on the Lisburn Road . I love M&S cafe in Sprucefield, every time I go in with dds we always seem to sit beside an elderly couple who my lovely sneaky children seem to charm and end up with £1 for "sweeties"

But you have to give formula Molly! Your milk isn't enough for your DD. She's getting big you know

:) peanut. Gawd knows what they'll say when I do blw. By the way why haven't I started her on baby rice yet???

Thing is I'm a crooked sod. She's my third and I wasn't half as much of a hippy and militant bfer when I was feeding dd1 but we lived in Scotland then. My poor dh has had to put up with so much bf talk and knows not to give too much ebm when I'm at work even there's litres of the blardy stuff in the freezer but I'm keeping her off formula now no matter what. I'll show them. (childish emoticon)

That's a new reason for keeping with bf Molly. Much better than breast is best ;)

Right, it's now tomorrow and time for bed.

Maybe I'll see some bf mums out and about in NI soon :)

northcoastmum, that's funny, it probably was your friend! The lady in P'stewart had a newborn I think?

We probably only notice people because I'm bf and paranoid about doing it in public so we're more aware of people feeding babies now in whatever form...

Yes, do like to think of myself as a pioneer - but the more of us do it, the more 'the norm' it will become (maybe...some day...)

Mama, fingers crossed that day comes soon. In the meantime all we can do is get out there and breast feed :)

I have BF in the Rushmere shopping centre PeanutButter! My in laws live in Craigavon.

I live in Craigavon! Right beside rushmere. I bf in there all the time. :)

Lakelands?