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.

My issue would be the baby possetting into the pool. That's why I feed my baby 20 mins before we go swimming. If the baby was hungry or unsettled then I'd call it a day.

I think it's wrong to feed in the pool. I'd feel the same about someone giving a bottle of formula. Obviously there's no need to be rude about it though.

plummy, babies can possett at any time...straight away after a feed, during a feed, 20 mins after a feed, 30 mins after a feed, an hour after a feed. That's what babies do :)

You might as well ban all babies from the pool if you didn't want to risk any possetting.

You wouldn't feed a baby in the pool. Fine. No one would force you.

But your feelings are irrelevant. The mother is entitled to do it, by law.

Singling it out to have rule of its own and basically saying it can be done anywhere no matter how ridiculous does nothing to normalise bf in our society

Is it just me or did anyone else have a vision of the 'extreme ironing' pictures that were doing the rounds a couple of years go?

Here Margery is breastfeeding while sky diving...

I have done it before. BFing is not just for food it's for comfort as well. Swimming pools have allot going on so I either do it in the pool or just out, just to calm her down. It's my right

I can not see one reason why she did not get out of the pool to feed the baby. I breast fed all mine but I would not have dreamt of doing it in a swimming pool.

She should have fed before she got in the pool and again after. If the baby needed feeding again then get out and feed him.

If the baby was distressed and needed comfort then obviously he had had enough of being in the pool and she should have got him out anyway

And the flashmob is just ridiculous, as far as I can see it will only make them look daft.

mrsmartin1984 If your Baby needs calming down why would you keep her in the pool, if she is distressed by being in the pool and needs calming why would you not take her out?

You do not have a right to breastfeed in a swimming pool. You have a desire to. There is a difference.

I wouldn't want to eat or drink in a pit of chemically treated water that other people have pissed in. I would swim in it but I wouldn't want to ingest it. I also don't want to get a mouthful of someone else's breastmilk in it either. I breastfed my 3 children and took them all swimming as babies, but there's no need to do both at the same time. Just get out of the pool, feed baby and get back in.

I think the original issue was more that the Aquatics Centre were mob handed and aggressive although the mother did say that she would still have disagreed with them.

Erm, yes, it is her right Harriet. Legally it is anyway.

For some babies, a quick bf is a way of calming down, of making contact, of reliving anxiety.

To get out of the pool, feed for a short time (eg a minute or so) and then get back in again is an option, but it's one every mother who has this parenting 'tool' can choose to do wherever she happens to be.

It is the law.

There is no hygiene risk. The milk is going into the baby, so the idea that anyone else would be swimming in someone's else's breastmilk is daft - she might leak a bit, but she might leak without feeding, and unless you are going to ban lactating women, we have to live with that and accept that when someone leaks we are talking about a teaspoon or so. Big deal. And it's just breastmilk, FFS. It's not going to be seen, touched, or tasted...

www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/lifeguards-manchester-aquatics-centre-told-5739985

Yes we do have a legal right to BF wherever you see fit. Under the sex discrimination act you have the legal right.

And yes I can spend five minutes calming my child out by BFing when a toddler/small child has splashed them and upset her. I do not see the issue there. I get less funny looks BFing in the pool then when I get out to do it. Sometimes I do it in the pool, sometimes on the side and sometimes on a chair by the pool. I don't see it has a problem

It went ahead. Just saw it on North West tonight. They were all sat in the cafe, not the pool. Not sure of the point of it though as presumably BF in the cafe was always OK. The centre said they were welcome to BF anywhere in future.

Please can someone link to the relevant legislation that says that it is a legal right to bf in a swimming pool?

This is a good explanation of the law (Equalities Act 2010).

The legislation itself is at the .GOV website:

www.gov.uk/equality-act-2010-guidance

This guide for businesses is also helpful.

There is nowhere that you are allowed to bring children that you are not allowed to BF.

They went ahead with it, but did it in the cafe ?

What was the point of that?

The point is they don't have to pay to get in. And the point is to point out their misogynistic attitudes and how you shouldn't discriminate against BFing mothers

Nothing would have been said if she had been feeding in the cafe though, the 'problem' was her feeding in the pool.

By the time this ill thought out protest went ahead management had already issued clear guidelines to their staff and made it clear that bf mothers were welcome to feed wherever they want. It had already been all over the press too, so it didn't need to be pointed out any further.

So, sorry, I really don't see the point at all, everything had already been dealt with. What has it achieved other than to further support the whole 'militant bf Mother' stereotype. Feeding your child somewhere just to prove a point is really silly imo.

Flashmobs maybe seen as militant by some, but the overall purpose is to raise awareness and prevent further discrimination. I didn't hear about this until I read about the flashmob on fb as I tend to ignore the farce that is our mainstream news. The more people this story reaches the better, whether you personally would bf your child in a pool is irrelevant, we have the right to bf anywhere we choose. Surely raising awareness to avoid further discrimination is a good thing?

Like a poster above, my issue with bfing flashmobs is that the one I have seen involved a lot of women shoving clearly unwilling children at their boobs looking scowly and aggressive. I was passing through the train station in question with my ds1 and stumbled across it and though I was feeding him still you couldn't have paid me to join in. It was such a self-serving spectacle.

I also don't get the point made about spreading the word about this. The management dealt with it and that's that. Why the need for fuss? It was clearly just an ignorant employee or perhaps just one having a shitty day. Such a bloody first world problem.

So the Flash Mob attended but protested in the cafe as they didnt want to pay to get in?

Thanks for the links ExBrightonBell. I can't find the bit in the legislation that sets out the exceptions, but the Maternity Action leaflet is clear that there are places where it is not illegal to prevent breastfeeding, including men only facilities and where "there are legitimate health and safety considerations".

Arguably there are health and safety issues with bf in a public swimming pool (either the direct act of bf, or indirectly because when bf you are less able to provide adequate supervision to any other children with you).

And the flashmob sounds like a real damp squib that sort of missed the point about how to flashmob