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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Original poster

Breastfeeding in the swimming pool?

220 replies

AuntPepita · 21/08/2012 21:13

Does anyone have any thoughts on this one?

I went swimming with DS (15mo) earlier and he was tired, grizzly and signing milk, so I fed him. The lifeguard eventually cottoned on and asked me to stop, so I did, but the more I think about it the more annoyed I am. Should I just suck (ha ha) it up, or make a fuss?

He was happy for me to feed at the poolside, just not in the pool.

He was perfectly polite, but I suspect knows nothing about the mechanics.

OP posts:
livealoha · 22/08/2012 22:53

But why would you feed you feed any child in the pool?
My son would probably like a snack mid way through his swim would it be fair to give him a bag of quavers or let him take his juice bottle in?!

Ilovemydogandmydoglovesme · 22/08/2012 23:00

This takes the whole Breastfeeding argument to a new level.

It's like that Bodyform advert. You can ski/swim/abseil/roller skate in them if you really want to. So you can breastfeed anywhere you want to because you're damn well entitled to! Jumping out of a plane, skiing down a mountain, diving in the Seychelles, climbing mount Kilimanjaro, hell why not?

[goes back to wine]

PicklesThePottyMouthedParrot · 22/08/2012 23:01

No when your operating a fork lift truck though.

Or fire juggling.

SrirachaGirl · 22/08/2012 23:11

How about horse-riding or jogging? I'll be darned if I'm going to let breastfeeding an infant stand in the way of enjoying myself. Sometimes I crave a milky beverage mid-swim. Next time I'm bringing my latte in with me...I have rights.

Viviennemary · 22/08/2012 23:21

Say you were an olympic swimmer. Your child might need breastfeeding in the middle of the race. Would you then. You might lose out on the gold. Then that wouldn't be fair would it. Or if you were a rower you should take your baby who might want a feed during the race.

Ilovemydogandmydoglovesme · 22/08/2012 23:36

Absolutely.

It's time Breastfeeding mothers stood up for themselves.

PicklesThePottyMouthedParrot · 22/08/2012 23:39

This thread has gone bonkers now!

Bonkers!

maples · 22/08/2012 23:46

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Softlysoftly · 22/08/2012 23:54

Well thank you all whether you were right or not is now obsolete to me.

I will never ever swim again for thinking about the putrid human soup of scabs, bm, wee, poo and skin you all describe boak.

PicklesThePottyMouthedParrot · 22/08/2012 23:57

I think only one person said that maples?

ThoughtsPlease · 22/08/2012 23:58

This is ridiculous.......nothing to do with anti-breastfeeding, and all to do with being a sensible mother of a toddler, not a weirdo (as someone else said) Confused

SrirachaGirl · 23/08/2012 00:01

I think it's rather a humorous thread, maple. And who said anything about formula? Team breastfeeding, here...but in the pool? You're havin' a laff Grin.

ThoughtsPlease · 23/08/2012 00:06

lol SrirachaGirl

PicklesThePottyMouthedParrot · 23/08/2012 00:08

She was only asked to sit at the side though, she was not asked to stop feeding!

Nothing to do with anti breastfeeding.

I expect the response would be the sane if she had whipped out a bottle.

Figgygal · 23/08/2012 07:21

maples this isn't about ff v bf or a ff culture many proud bf mothers have said on here its not the done thing for them either.

EauRouge · 23/08/2012 07:52

No, I'm with Maples on this one. If the OP had whipped out a bottle would there have been pages of 'ewww, I don't want to swim around in formula milk' comments? Doubt it.

Whether or not you agree with BF in a swimming pool (and it seems most don't- each to their own), it is depressing the number of posts on here from people that are disgusted about coming into contact with breastmilk in a public swimming pool, which are all full of pee anyway.

iknowwho · 23/08/2012 07:56

The mainstream swim teaching organisations all advocate feeding babies in the pool because it's a quick and easy way of comforting a child who is cold/tired/hungry.

Surely if a child is cold and tired in a swimming pool the answer is to remove them from that enviroment and make them warm again.Not keep them in the water getting colder!!

AngelDog · 23/08/2012 08:49

iknow, so you'd agree that if the child is tired/hungry (or just otherwise upset e.g. by not being keen on swimming, as used to be the case with my DS) then it would be appropriate to feed a child in the pool?

IME feeding in the pool keeps a child warmer than sitting out of the water to feed them.

I agree with Eau that it's sad that so many people think that coming into contact with bm in a pool is 'ick' in a way that people might not think formula or cow's milk was 'ick'. We are having swimming lessons this week in an outdoor pool, which so far has contained leaves, seeds, ladybirds, flies, gnats, mosquitos, used plasters and bits of swim float. A bit of bm hardly seems like a big deal. And I speak as the mother of a toddler who is physically incapable of closing his mouth while swimming, and who deliberately drinks gallons of the stuff (I can tell by how much he wees afterwards).

iknowwho · 23/08/2012 09:17

No I don't agree it is appropiate to feed a tired and hungry child at the pool because I think at 15 months you would surely have a good idea of your child's routine so why put it in that situation?

It never occured to me to take a child swimming during a time it would be due a nap.

At if the child was uncomfortable, tired, frightened or what ever I would take it away from that enviroment with cuddles and kind words not offer it a boob.

I am pro breast feeding and breast fed my too. My only issue in this case was the 15 month toddler in question wasn't hungry but had other issues.
When I breast fed I liked to be comfortable and with half my body out of the water would get me cold quick.

floranora · 23/08/2012 09:34

I am for breast feeding all the way, but i do think that it is very odd of you to do so in the pool!

I dont rock up and start munching my sandwich in the pool!

you have had 15m with him, think you would have come up with some sort of routine?

AngelDog · 23/08/2012 09:38

Well, DS might be tired after a bad night even if it were nowhere near naptime. Or because he had had an unusual amount of exercise before the swimming lesson for whatever reason. Or because he had happened to wake early that morning. None of those were to do with being out of routine.

Cuddles and kind words never comforted DS. He wanted milk. Nothing else would stop him screaming.

We had paid £7 a lesson, which is double our monthly allowance for all other non-essential spending on DS (we have a very tight budget but feel that learning swimming skills is important enough to spend money on). Taking him out of the pool meant wasting that money which frankly we coudln't afford to do. The swimming teacher's recommendation was that taking him right out of the pool every time he got upset would make it worse, as would stopping swimming lessons until he was happy to be in the pool without frequently stopping for milk. We took her advice and it turned out to be correct - he got more and more used to the pool and is a really confident, happy swimming.

For many children at 15 months, the main reason for bf'ing is not much to do with hunger. Why should that be an issue? Babies and toddlers feed for comfort as well as to satisfy hunger or thirst. That's how bf'ing works.

PicklesThePottyMouthedParrot · 23/08/2012 09:41

No one is making an issue of it, you follow the rules of the pool and if that's their rules sit at the side.

I don't think anyone is saying the child should be starved.

Wether you pay for a lesson or not you can't swim whilst actually feeding so wether you move to the or not what's the difference?

PicklesThePottyMouthedParrot · 23/08/2012 09:43

And I would say exactly the same of someone complained they couldn't feed a bottle in the water.

AngelDog · 23/08/2012 09:44

There seems to be a fundamental difference of opinion here between people who think bf'ing is for food/drink and therefore children should only be feeding according to a 'routine', and those (me included) who (in general - there may be exceptions) will offer a feed whenever a child needs one for whatever reason, including fright, distress, need for comfort, reassurance, closeness to mother, etc etc).

I appreciate not everyone bf's their child for their comfort. But those of us who do seem to be getting some (IMO unwarranted) flak for being prepared to offer a bf to a child who is asking for it.

Obviously some people are prepared to do it, and some aren't. Fair enough. I did because (a) it calmed DS and (b) the swimming teaching recommended staying at least partly in the pool to do so.

5madthings · 23/08/2012 09:45

not all babies/toddlers have a routine of feed and nap times.

they could just be feeling wary or anxious, not all little ones take to swimming straight away. they might be upset because they got splashed or the noise in the pool area scared them. there can be any number of reasons for a toddler or baby to need to bfeed and you CANNOT pre-empt them all ir plan around them.

as has been said the mainstream swimming organisations recomend feeding in the pool, its a simple and effective way of helping a baby feel relaxed and comforted.

i already said i took mine to sit on the edge of the pool but that was fot my modesty so i could drape a towel round me.

re leaking milk, i always had oversupply issues and a very strong let down. if i eent more than two hours without bfeeding my milk would let down, if a child cried in earshot my milk would let down so when i swam (used to go in the evenings and do 80-100 lengths) then yes i leaked in the pool and that eas without feeding in the pool.

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