Bf during swimming lessons....was this right?

[Moulesfrites]

I take ds 9 mo to swimming once a week. This week dh was off so wanted to come and watch. There are often dads watching or in the pool with the babies. While I was getting ds and I changed, dh went to stand on the poolside. The lesson before ours is for little babies under 6 mo. One of these babies was hungry so his mum bf him in the corner of the pool. The teacher asked my dh to leave so he had to go out in the corridor. It didn't bother him and he got to come back in for our lesson, but I couldn't figure out if this was right or not. What if there had been a man in the pool for the lesson which there often is? Plus when you are already wearing a swimming costume, an extra bit of boob on show doesnt seem like a big deal?

Did the bf mother request he leave? If not YANBU, I'm sure he would've easily found something else to look at
Maybe they thought he would be uncomfortable with it.
No biggie though IMO.

No, I don't think the teacher should have asked him to leave. Why would they do this? I am sure the teacher felt like she/he was doing the bfing mum a favour, but it's acts like this that keep bfing being seen as a normal, natural thing in society.

I was in the changing room but dh said it was the teacher, not the mother, who wanted him to go.

Did the teacher realise your husband was there with you for the next lesson? Slightly different if the teacher just thought he was some random man there spectating! I agree though that the teacher should not have asked him in the first place, another person making an unnecessary "issue" out of public feeding.

Our leisure centre do not allow BF in the pool. You have to get out and go to the baby room in the changing area. They also have a very defined spectators area so you are either swimming or watching. Depends on their policy what officially "should have" happened but I support BF completely and feel it should be normalised so making issues where there are none is wrong.

"Our leisure centre do not allow BF in the pool."

Legally, they cannot NOT allow it. There's no health risk to the baby or anyone else, so that's not a valid reason either.

Been through this one with our local leisure centre, who now "allow" it.

Sounds like a totally daft reaction by the teacher. I would have been furious as the dad, or the BFing mother that such a silly fuss was made. Clearly the mum was comfortable or she would have gone into the changing room.

The teacher was probably just trying to be nice/helpful - I don't really see the issue?

I think it's ridiculous and the very sort of thing that turns the normality of BF into something hushed up and hidden away. MY DH would not have left nor would I have expected anyone to leave if it was me BFeeding.

If the mother wanted not to be seen then she should have left the pool. That is up to her and I'm not suggesting she is forced to BF in front of others. But what if some fathers had brought their under 6mth babies. Would they have also been asked to leave and take their babies out of the pool.

DH wouldn't bat an eyelid at a woman feeding in public. He doesn't see either BF or BF boobs as remotely sexual so he wouldn't be interested in staring at her either. We need less of a big deal made about BF in public so as to normalise it.

The issue as I see it is that an issue was made of it.

IF the mother was worried about being "watched" then she could have gone into a private area. She chose to BF in public, therefore she would have been comfortable about the bloke being there.

It was not right to ask the bloke to leave. It makes BFing seem odd or something that "should" be done in private or away from men. He was just there waiting for his own child's lesson, minding his own business, and it was unfair to ask him to leave.