BFing likened to 'peeing in pool' at Manchester Aquatics Centre, BF Flash mob tomorrow morning!

[OhWhatAPalaver]

www.facebook.com/events/557899437609157/

For anyone in Manchester tomorrow morning, get down to this!

Apologies if this has already been posted but thought I should share here.

What kingrollo said. Would you eat your breakfast/lunch/dinner in a pool?

What is it about breastfeeding in a pool you find unacceptable KingRollo?

Breast milk is a bodily fluid when all is said and done. My two often spluttered or spat around feeds. I've breastfed in many places but I wouldn't feed any child by any means in the swimming pool any more than I would in a toilet. Also, let's face it, we all know that toddlers are prone to peeing in the pool and there are all sorts of things in there, including chlorine, I wouldn't want my baby to necessarily be wrapping their lips round. I tend to avoid my baby and toddler drinking the pool water so why would I clasp them to my wet boob in a slippy pool when I could get out and feed them in comfort.

I can't think of one good reason to feed a baby in a pool. This is not worth flash-mobbing about, just adds to stereotypes of breastfeeding women being extreme which is just so far from the truth.

When I was BFing I always found that whichever breast wasn't in use would leak anyway. As breast milk is a human bodily fluid I would avoid a situation where I was putting into it water that other people were using to swim in.

More importantly I would have hated the thought that DS was also ingesting swimming pool water with chlorine, sweat, pubes, toe cheese, urine and poo crumbs along with his breast milk.

Wrong for all involved.

I BF DS everywhere with no problems at all, this silliness undermines our right to feed our babies wherever they need it.

There is another thread about bfeeding in the pool. Its fine and legally the woman is in the right.

Milk nwill get into the pool as my way as lactating breast often leak. When the baby feeds it creates a seal on the breast so milk is less likely to spill. Babies drink pool water anyway, they are actually less likely to do so when feeding. Not all babies are sicky babies and those that are are often sick at random intervals unrelated to feeding. If you don't want breast milk or sick in the pool you would need to ban all lactating women and babies.

Tbh breast milk in the pool is the least of your concerns when swimming and the pool will be chlorinated anyway.

Any clothes shop won't let you eat or drink in there either, but I wouldn't think twice about feeding my baby in one if he/she needed it.

As for breastmilk being a bodily fluid, if you're breastfeeding chances are you could leak into the pool anyway, so perhaps we should ban all lactating women from pools?

Even if you try and avoid it, babies are likely to get pool water in their mouths/on their hands then in their mouths regardless.

As for good reasons to 'feed' a baby in the pool, maybe to comfort them if they are anxious at first? Maybe because you have other children to supervise? Maybe because they are likely to only want to feed for a minute or so and it's easier to just feed them there than it is to get out and feed? Maybe because you want to stay warm in the pool instead of sitting on the side and getting cold? (in any case, feeding on the side of the pool apparently wouldn't have been acceptable to the staff in question here either )

I suggest any naysayers read this....

www.analyticalarmadillo.co.uk/2013/08/breastfeeding-in-swimming-pools.html

for all who support, there is a petition at the end :)

Oh I was just coming back to post that link! :)

I fed both of mine to beyond two and am very pro breastfeeding but I don't think you should be able to feed in a pool sorry.

We've recently been on holiday and I got out of the pool to breastfeed. Mainly because it was chest height all round and I'd have drowned the baby if I hadn't...

It didn't stop my milk going in the pool though, I leak like buggery. I suppose to avoid offending people's sensibilities about bodily fluids I could have avoided swimming all holiday.

I think feeding in the pool is a bit much too, and would be equally about babies with bottles or juice in a pool too. I know there will be wee in the pool anyway, but still worth reducing the amount of other fluids in there.

Why wouldn't you just feed before or on the poolside?

Well gobblers don't feed in the pool if you don't want to but other women may want or need to and their right to do so is protected by law so what you think doesn't really matter.

I find it bizarre that so many BF-ing mums are against this, if baby needs feeding, baby needs feeding, regardless of where. I personally wouldn't want to sit next to the pool freezing my arse off and worrying about baby getting cold while trying to feed.

I don't care about milk or milky vomit in the water, god knows it's full of piss , I don't care about the 'exposure' thing. But still it seems odd to me. Just get out, wrap both of you in a towel, feed, get back in.

No, it doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things, but I would like to think I can still have an opinion.

If a bottle fed baby needs feeding it needs feeding too though, so this isn't a bfing issue - it's a taking little babies swimming issue. As I say, I would find seeing a baby with a bottle of milk in a pool a bit unnecessary too.

Just read it but I still don't agree. To be honest, I wouldn't want any visual reminder of any of the crap in the pool. Breast milk would probably be the best but I'm glad I can't see toddlers peering and I'm squeamish about people not wearing swimming caps and I don't want to think about any bodily fluids in there. Out of sight, out of mind.

The way she was spoken to was the issue. As well as the substandard alternatives.

The way this will be reported will be that a gang of women want to get their tits out for attention, you all know this, right? The mankini pic is a more effective refutation. I'd rather see a whole load of people show up for a swim with labels like 'I've got my period', 'I have serious dandruff', 'I have athletes foot', 'I have thrush' an THEN point out that it's inappropriate to tell someone that what they are doing is an exception to the rule when it's not. I don't think a flashmob does anything but look a bit exhibitionist.

I suspect actually the reason so many people including breastfeeding mothers are against it is that it is a visual reminder of all the crap in the pool. We all know it's there, we just don't want to think about it. Also is be petrified of dropping the baby in the water, they're so slippy when they're wet!!

I have to agree with it being a strange thing to want to do in a pool. It can't be comfortable for either mum or baby and seems like you would be doing it there to make a point rather than because you actually needed to. I also think that whilst I happily bf in public it feels a bit too public and harder to avoid noticing than in a cafe or on a bench in a shopping centre, I can imagine people feeling uncomfortable with it and I don't want to embarrass others. (I know this will be a controversial view!)

Definitely working - we don't want to think about pools being a bit grim! And we don't want to see it becoming a bit more grim in front of our eyes.

Well said King Rollo. I bf both mine for over a year each and plan the same again. I absolutely defend the right to bf in public but I agree that in the pool is unnecessary and the staff were right to ask her to stop.