Breasfeeding in Northern Ireland

[queeniebee]

I am soon to be moving back to Northern Ireland after years in London where I have been breastfeeding my 2 ds for over 3 years. The eldest stopped at 26 months and coming up to a year for ds2.

Anyway, when I have been back to visit I have never seen anyone breastfeeding and people seem to find it a weird thing to do which is very strange to me. Anyone in NI breastfeeding??

I have heard it is not illegal to ask breastfeeding mother to stop or move on there?? Is this correct as I want to be prepared when going back!

NI is part of the UK, and is subject to the same equality act that makes it perfectly ok for a mother to bf her child of whatever age wherever she and her baby are allowed to be.

It's true that NI has the worst bf rates in the UK, but that does not mean no one is doing it :)

Thanks!
That's great because I am prepared for some busybody comments and wanted to be confident in what I was saying!

I am actually going to look into doing something to improve breastfeeding rates in my area! Not sure how I'm going to go about it though.....

how about doing a breastfeeding course I believe you can do some of them as distance learning. Or have a look and see if any of the breastfeeding support organisations are active in northern Ireland.

Hi queenie. Don't worry there are quite a lot of us! I have fed two ds and never had a negative comment or raised eyebrow at all!
There is a breast feeding support group in almost every area and your local gp or health visitor will have a list of the nearest one for you.
Good luck moving home :)

Hi, I am from NI and go back regularly. Still breastfeeding my eight month old and haven't had any negative reactions, although now that you mention it I haven't noticed as many other nursing mothers as in edinburgh where I now live. I really would not worry.

I bf DS for 11months, and am bf my newborn DD (literally I am sat her bf her as I type this!).

NI can be a bit odd about BF, although in my experience it is usually friends and family who make random 'helpful' comments, I've never ever had a negative comment from a stranger in public.

We should have a NI breastfeeding meet-up!

Eurgh. N.I. is in the dark ages when it comes to bfing.

My 2+ years of feeding DD was greeted with many the raised eyebrow on my numerous visits home.

My mother still hasn't forgiven me for having a HB

Go for it OP.

Living in NI-
Yes I understand your concerns, but really it not that bad- I've never had any bad comments, and the bf laws here stand also. Good luck with the move!!

DD was born in NI. There is La Leche League etc there.

I have seen quite a few ladies breastfeeding in public there (although never seemed to notice any until I was pregnant) and breastfed DD in public there with no problems at all. I no longer live there sadly.

I live here. There.
BF is not unusual. What you may, and I stress may, come across is raised eyebrows at 24 months of age. You certainly won't have anything said to you though.
I don't think that makes s any different from anywhere else?
Welcome home!

Well it is nice to hear I won't have to worry too much!
I am planning to stop in a few months anyway although not sure how I will do that as ds1 only stopped when ds2 was 2 months old!