What do you think of this?

[Tatties]

Have a read of this , especially some of the comments at the end..

I was asked to leave an area in asda years ago (outside women's changing rooms, only handy chair) by employee who asked me to use breastfeeding facilities - ie the loo. I asked her if she was in the habit of partaking of lunch in the loo and would she like to line up all those people who were offended by my 4 month old having a quick feed?.......I am not usually very assertive by the way - I did'nt want to sit in smelly old loo and neither did baby. Most people hate yelling babies in public.....at least feeding is quiet.
some posts here are so offensive I think the person is either a man, kidding to stir us all up or needs some time out from the subject.
You'd have to be warped to object to babies being looked after - it's offensive not looking after them (and yes bottles are fine too).

I think some are wind-ups too, at least I hope so! Have you read one of the last ones about not feeding her baby on demand! She should have waited half an hour and not pander to the baby's needs apparently! This by a woman!

I'm sure the Post Office where she was queuing would have loved to have listened to a baby screaming for half an hour! God, you get criticised if your baby cries in public, you get criticised if you feed it in public, you might as well just barricade yourself in your own home and not venture out!

it's a sad state of affairs for a country when women are begging for a law just so that they can do something they have evolved to do. Can't see how stone aged women could have gathered without b/f their babies anywhere.

Actually, I have seen an angle on this that has been missed. My partner works in a business where he is often offered stolen goods (good grapevine system). Another shop had someone in offering thousands of pounds of equipment that the owner knew was stolen, and kept the man busy whilst he phoned the police. After an hour had passed and 3 further phonecalls had been made to the police, the guy left with the thousands of poundsworth of equipment he had stolen from someone. Seems to be the case in alot of instances.

The answer? "Hello Officer. There appears to be a woman breastfeeding in my vicinity". The armed response unit will be with you in seconds

While I can appreciate that someone may not like me breastfeeding in public, they do not have to watch me. Why can they not appreciate that my baby is crying because he needs to be fed, and so I'm going to feed him?

When I'm feeding my baby I'm not harming anyone. I'm not doing it to make a statement or to make someone else feel uncomfortable. I'm not being an exhibitionist or getting my t!ts out for the lads. I'm doing it to make my baby feel more comfortable. I'm doing it to feed him and stop him from crying.

Mandy.

Stardoman - The thing that people in the responses to the article don't seem to appreciate is no one is forcing them to look. All the comments are written as though it is mandatory to stare at breastfeeding women in public.

It is a shame on society.

Oh my GOD! How dreadful, the poor woman. I am SO glad about the recent BF friendly legislation in Scotland.

I know Daily Mail readers aren't the brightest sparks, but this comment was so utterly moronic- "My town has a no-drinking on the street policy, so this sort of behaviour would be illegal." Stuart of Surrey, the policy refers to alcohol, not milk, I very much doubt the police are stopping people on the street for drinking take-out Starbucks! Argh!

Guardian's follow-up to this story.

Dizietsma, I read Stuart's comment to be made firmly with tongue in cheek cos I couldn't believe it could be serious! I think that some of the objections are from people who don't actually seem offended by BF in public, rather they just feel it is unneccesary because we women should jolly well be more organised and feed the baby before we go out.. Yes, quite

I never breastfed in public and to be honest I don't like seeing other womens boobs - its just my personal preference though and I will never ever complain to anyone for doing it. My boobs to me are private and even though you can be very discreet I was very uncomfortable about doing it in public so I never did...

I think where the problem lays is that most people see boobs as kind of sexual organs and cannot get a grip around the fact they are for feeding our kids. Their brains cannot make the switch and so its uncomfortable for them...

I was at the gym last night watching Sky News and they were discussing this story. Some bloke emailed in to say that if he urinated publicly in the street, he would be arrested, but that is also a "natural" thing to do, so the same should apply to breastfeeding !!!!!!!

Franke, that's fascinating. The different responses were very interesting, I thought. Especially The Garrick:

The Garrick

"As long as you don't bring the baby in, there shouldn't be any problem."

You're not allowed to bring a baby in?

"No no no. Not at all. I think that's a little bit too much, don't you?"

PMSL! Yes, you can breastfeed, but not if you bring the baby in.

I was thinking about it this morning and figure you could maybe liken breastfeeding to kissing in public - it's not something you can be arrested for, but it's a public display that some people feel uncomfortable seeing.

Perhaps the difference here is that people don't need to kiss in public - one half of the couple isn't likely to go purple with crying because they're so desperate for a kiss and can't wait to find a quiet cafe in which to kiss. Oh, and people would look daft kissing with pashminas over both their heads.

Actually, there's not really an equivalent, is there? Except bottlefeeding a baby - and nobody complains about seeing that to policemen, do they?

This kind of thing just makes you want to go out, breastfeed in public, and whack the first person who dared say anything to you! In fact, I might just have another baby just so that I can prove my point!

HM, that's perfectly understandable - you can breastfeed out a window.

There would surely have been a time when seeing women breastfeeding was simply the norm, because babies weren't fed any other way.

Any historians out there who specialised in the history of breastfeeding ?

I still think Tiktok's post says it all. If you read it hunkermunker you'll find that you cannot compare breastfeeding to any of these things.

Yeah, I never had to walk along the pavement dodging pools of breastmilk. Everyday, however, I have to hop around vomit, dog crap, blood (from fights, I presume) and urine.

CRSEIH, yes, read Tiktok's brilliant post and agree totally with it.

Am off to kiss my baby in public now Well, little blighter self-weaned, so what's a mother to do?!

Not long till I have another one to feed in public though. Lemme at 'em, the narrow-minded bigots. God, went all Scrappy Doo for a moment there. Weird!

This reminds me of the time we invited our neighbours round when I had just had ds. Ds was hungry, so I fed him and didn't even think about it being 'offensive'(discreetly - v little flesh on display) The bloke of the couple took a sudden interest in the CD rack behind him and continued to talk to us with his head at a very odd angle for the whole feed. I wanted to laugh!

Personally, I would have given the policeman a bit of a tongue lashing. I'm happy for people to breastfeed, bottlefeed or whatever but this sort of this happening to bf mums does upset me. I fed on the train the other day as got caught out, no-one seemed to mind but if they had said anything I would have said would they rather a screaming baby in their carriage or a contented happy one?

I know I wouldn't have stopped if the police spoke to me! They would have to arrest me (for what?) first! Grrrrr... Thank goodness my only comments when bf in public have been positive ones!

Oh, and DH said that if he saw someone doing it and felt uncomfortable at the amount of flesh on show he would simply not look.

I couldn't help it. I had to add a comment to the article. I really hate people in this country sometimes. They don't get worked up about anything and then one poor women gets a quarter of a boob out and they go mental.