Why does John Lewis have a "Bottle Feeding" area?

[LittleAmy]

The John Lewis resturant has a "Parents Room" and inside there is a "Breast Feeding Area" and a "Bottle Feeding Area". Each area is the same size with two chairs and a table. I can understand the need for a breastfeeding area, as some mums feel uncomfortable getting their breasts out in public because we live in a society that has sexualised breasts. But I don't understand why John Lewis has created a "Bottle Feeding Area". We live in a FF culture.

I'm sure there's an obvious answer to this that I can't see because I'm sleep deprived

I agree that its not really on to bring your DH into bf-ing area - I do think that is the whole point, to offer women privacy in the knoweldge that anyone else in there is also struggling (or not!) in a similar way.

Of course I would make my DH wait elsewhere for the sake of other bf-ing mums! Sure he'd rather be in the cafe anyway!

Obv talking specifically re bf-ing area - and not general changing rooms/feed area..

Actually, you are all making me because I moved recently from near Solihull and I miss it, particularly JL (sad that I am!). I loved the loos that had 2 toilets in which was great for when DS was potty training.
I do think in Solihull branch it was labelled "breastfeeding area" and "bottlefeeding area". At first with DS (couldn't breastfeed directly so bottlefed him EBM) that used to make me feel sad. I did sometimes express in the breastfeeding area though! With DD I had real problems feeding her for ages and needing to be in a certain position, so was actually very offputting when I went around the corner and found a woman with her husband around there (and he didn't get the hint and I was too down to put up a fight and ask him directly if he would give me some privacy). I agree with Tiktok, one thing having other bfing mums there, but their DH taking up space and blocking the entrance with his long legs?! .

My DH used to sit with me when it is empty so I had someone to talk to for the 45 mins/ 1 hour DS would feed for sometimes. He did say that as soon as anyone else came in though, he would go. He also said he wouldn't come in if people were in there already. I have sat in Mothercase and BF DS sat right next to a man, the poor thing was so uncomfortable I said something in passing, like 'how old is your LO then' and he replied with his eyes firmly focused on my forehead That was an open feeding/ changing area, and he was helping his wife/ girlfriend with their baby who was pretty upset.

Whenskies I've had situations like that, recently feeding DD2 in the bank managers office. He looked a bit nervous but I just said, 'I really need to feed her, I hope you don't mind. Some people are a bit funny about it but its just ignorance I think' - after that he had no choice and couldn't object!!!

DD is FF and we find the bottle feeding area in JL really useful. If I try and feed her in a cafe or on a bench somewhere she is far too distracted by everything going on around her and never feeds very well. Much better for us to feed her in the peace & quiet of the feeding area and then head to a cafe for her to enjoy a spot of her favourite pastime of people-watching!

RubyBuckleberry - lol at the natural history museum

ha ha i know! imagine - the study of NATURAL history and not a boob in sight. although i and another woman breastfed on the steps of the kids bit at the tate modern...

They have both BF and bottle feeding area because men might be bottle feeding and women might be uncomfortable etc feeding in front of men.

I regularly go to JL in Brent Cross and Oxford Street, in both the BFing area is curtained off whereas the bottle feeding area is open. It would be very insensitive for a man to be in the BFing area as I imagine you'd only feed there is you didn't want to feed in public. I actually expressed in the BFing area in Oxford Street and I would have been MORTIFIED if any man had been there even though happy to BF in public.

Personally I found the chairs very uncomfortable and would rather BF in starbucks etc.

Now that I am bottle feeding, the bottle warmer would be useful but I would probably warm the bottle whilst I was changing the nappy and then take warm bottle elsewhere.

Ok point taken I wont use them with him. I tend to stay home anyway as I get panic attacks when I'm out so its only been a few times.

tiktok it really is labelled "Bottle Feeding Area" (John Lewis, Newcastle)

Yes, whilst travelling recenntly we stopped at the trafford centre and in the JL they have signs up for bottle feeding and for breast feeding. i remember it because i'd never seen a specific bottle feeding area before.

Fernie3 has another BFing mum even been there when your DH was there?

I found a bloke in the JL BF area a few weeks ago but once he saw me arrive he left.

I have been in three times once we were alone. Once there was another woman and her partner and once a woman alone. I don't want to talk about this anymore for some reason it has got me totally irrationally upset probably because i am struggling with breastfeeding at the moment anyway. Not the fault of anything on this thread and unreasonable on my part yes but im must going to cry in a Minute for some stupid reason.

So He wont go in the baby bit again that's it :)

Fernie hope you're okay. If you feel up to sharing your BF problems (even under a different ID?) I'm sure you'll get lots of support from the ladies here.

Seems odd to segregate 2 types of feeding, like there is going to be an all out bf vs ff war in John Lewis!

A "feeding area" with privacy, bottle warmers and the like and a "changing area" with some seating for other DCs and a bottle warmer for feeding dads would make more sense to me.

I've run into a dad (with his DP) in a mothercare feeding room before, he was changing a toddler while she fed the newborn. I'm not bothered, I can feed very discretely (sometimes DH doesn't notice) and I feel a bit more OK about dads than random other blokes, but I can see how some might be a bit more uncomfortable.

Maybe they have a FF room because BF mums can be quite critical and quick to offer withering looks when a new mum pulls out a bottle?

Dh wondered if it might be preferable to have it out by the smoking area or near the needle exchange? Maybe he has read too many threads over my shoulder?

On a slightly more serious note, I would assume that a FF mother might need the same kind of peace and quiet to feed her baby as some BF mums. As others have suggested, there would be a bottle warmer in one and not the other... I haven't FF but on the rare occasion where I used a BF room, dh would accompany me not because he cannot amuse himself but because we had precious little time together as a family in the early days. I would happily have asked dh to leave the room if another mother wished to feed in private.

Fernie3 MN can be a funny place. The focus seems to have been shifted to you and I can understand how you would feel persecuted. I agree that you would be able to find helpful advice and support on another thread. It sounds as though you are having a rough time. Panic attacks whilst establishing a new breast feeding relationship sounds overwhelming. I hope that you didn't end up in tears over this thread. You are far from the only person to have her dh in a BF room and it sounds as though you genuinely enjoy his support. BF doesn't need to be isolating.

lol @ "all out bf vs ff war in John Lewis!"

Right so they provided a bfing area, a changing area, a ffing area, and still someone complains?

"Maybe they have a FF room because BF mums can be quite critical and quick to offer withering looks when a new mum pulls out a bottle?"

The same critical and withering looks a BFing mum gets when she pulls out a boob?

We mums cant win.

Although to be honest, its easier to FF in public than it is the breastfeed in public. Sexualisation of breasts aside, at least the FF mum knows that she's in good company. She can almost guarantee that most mums in the vacinity will share her feeding method.

"I would happily have asked dh to leave the room if another mother wished to feed in private."

Would you wait for her to ask?

Pootles - who's "complaining"?

You said we live in a ff culture and you don't understand why they've done it... came across as critical to me [shrug]

little amy I can only imagine the situation and suggest a hypothetical answer... I guess that if anyone else had ever walked into a BF area whilst I was there with dh then I might have suggested that he wait outside (particularly if she looked uncomfortable).

I BF all four of our dcs until they were toddlers so I endured the comments and side-long glances. Those negative experiences pale in comparison with what I have witnessed recently with FF friends. One adopted her dd and another is taking interferon for MS. Both would be delighted to find themselves in a position to BF but they are constantly bombarded with comments from 'well-meaning' strangers.

I agree that breasts are sexualized and that our culture tends to be more FF friendly BUT feelings and expectations vary with the circles in which people spend their time.

JL in Cardiff definitely has signed areas for bottle feeding and breastfeeding. They are separate cubicles, no curtain or anything else for privacy. They are actually identical as far as I can see. Just chairs and a table.

As far as I remember, and apologies if I'm wrong, they actually have 2 cubicles with a bottle sign, and 1 for breastfeeding. Reflecting the fact that far more women FF than BF, I guess? Although if the cubicles are identical, I don't see why they are signed to keep FF-ers and BF-ers apart?

I tried to see if there was anything different about the breast feeding area, and all I could see is that it's by the water cooler... which just means it's actually LESS private than the other cubicles, as folk walk up to get water from it, and then they're right next to you! And it's men and women, as the changing area is in the same 'corridor' off the toilets...

This thread has made me think about why breastfeeding areas are provided - and privacy was all I could think of. Which is compromised if there's no curtain or door on the cubicle, and the area isn't women only.

Without being in ANY WAY critical, genuinely, what are the benefits to a FF mum of a designated area? Is it access to a bottle warmer, and a less distracting environment for their DCs?

I wish we had a John Lewis in Leeds.

It's new, I think, that JL are actually labelling the area as a sep. ff area. When I enquired about this a few years ago the explanation was as I said earlier today, but there were no labels saying 'bottle feeding area'.

I am certain it is not to protect ff mothers from withering looks.

FFS.

If that was the case, they would hand out burkas to the ff mothers at the door and/or give them a locked cubicle to sit in.

Lovely to read your DH has a similar sense of humour to you, Cadmum .

I think the labeling is probably for clarity and convenience, so if someone wants to bf in a private place, she realises the 'bottle feeding area' is where it is, and therefore clearly open to men, grandpas, and other people who might be bottle feeding, and who she might just not want to breastfeed in front of. Her choice.