BREASTFEEDING IN LONDON MUSEUMS/GALLERIES!

[muppet3]

Myself and a bunch of girlfriends with babies under 6 months are planning on making the most of our maternity leave and cruising some of the galleries and museums in London in the coming weeks.

But before we head off ... can anyone tell us what their experiences have been of breastfeeding/bottle feeding in these places? Which ones are good? Which have nice staff? Where will they let you feed? Plus, how easy are the baby change facilities to find...

I'd love this to be a resource for other people to be able to look up too.

Thanks in advance!

i have bf in the tate and it was absolutely fine. didn't need to do a nappy change though... the annoying thing was that the lifts weren't working.

Went the natural history museum last week but didnt get to feed in there as DS (32 months) was too excited ....he had a big feed at Dinos (italian restuarant just by the tube station) when he had lunch & didnt get any comments there - highly recommended for the food as well!....but the Natural History museum have lots of chairs dotted about the place so plenty of places to just plonk yourselves down & have a feed when you need to. Their changing room was nice as well - very clean & roomy.

never had a problem. some of the chairs were a little uncomfy, but that's really picking holes!

in south ken, note science and nhm have picnic areas (good if bub wants a snack but you don't want another bloody cappuccino!)

Any thoughts on the V&A? Thinking about trying out the Kylie exhibition ...

The Tate Modern is good. To be honest, I think any of the big museums should be great for breastfeeding. If you are feeding the baby presumably it is quiet, and anybody disturbed by you should be looking at the exhibits anyway.

I think people can be justifiably annoyed if you are walking around gabbing and tripping over the displays (obviously I have NEVER done this), but not if you are breastfeeding.

Top tip - don't ask whether it's OK to BF, just do it. If you ask, you may encourage someone to say no. I haven't tried London museums, but I've had no problems BF in museums elsewhere in the UK. Nobody even really notices if you do it discreetly, anyway. It just looks like a cuddle.

No experience of feeding there but long before DS was born I had my worst period pain ever at Tate Modern - I was doubled up in pain - they were unbelievably wonderful there. Found me a lovely quiet room, with a bed/couch thing and a hot water bottle, put a security guard outside the door to "mind" me and said I could stay as long as I wanted. I was so impressed.

Didn't mean to imply they should hurry a breast-feeding mother into a seperate room! Just thought I'd mention it as an example of how above and beyond their customer service had been.

wasn't it a couple years ago taht a woman was stopped from BF in the Tate or somewhere like that?

a few days later they issued a public apology because, well after all, their walls have loads of uncovered breasts.

errr.. the only thing about V&A is those cavernous echoy-ey spaces full of cultured quiet adults.... add one screamy baby to the mix = one embarassed mummy.

If you keep 'im plugged you'll be ok!

Thanks guys Think I'll brave it next week. I'll never find out unless I try it, right? x

muppet3 - if you put it in local mumsnet it will be a resource others can look up!
If anyone makes a face at bfeeding in public stick your tongue out at them! good luck!

Go for it - wop your boobs out all over town. British Museum has fabulous family facilities as I recall.

The only caveat I offer is that with the exhibitions at the V&A they tend to have timed entry so you can't just show up and breeze through on spec. You may have to book quite far in advance and you'll probably find your bloody baby gets hungry just as you're due to go round the exhibition. But hohum, such are the trials of motherhood.

if you get any hassle, tell them you are part of some fancy arsed installation. i'm sure we could come up with a name??

Have you done it yet? I'm a bit late at adding to this thread!!!! We went with our lo in the October half term to the Science Museum (madly busy), and bf twice whilst there - the best was at a 'picnic' place where there were two other bfing mums at the same time.

If you're with a group of mums then it'll make it much easier.

A year ago we went to the Natural History Museum. I was bf my 8 month dd just outside the shop, and one of the attendants(male) walked up to me and told me to stop. He directed me to the changing area. I very loudly asked him what his problem was. He then disappeared after shouting at me. Another attendant came over and apologised on behalf of her colleague. I asked for the complaints procedure but was told there was no manager on site to talk to. There were some customer feedback forms which I completed about the incident. I never recieved a reply. In 5 years of breastfeeding that was the only time I have ever been approached.