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Infant feeding

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

Original poster

I cannot believe the really awful feeding facilities out there...

63 replies

EdieMcredie · 25/12/2007 23:05

Thought Boots would be really good but no, they just have a changing room with grotty chair. Am I being really fussy to not want to breastfeed my child next to a bin full of dirty nappies? And it's not just breastfeeding I wouldn't want to do in these rooms-I would feel equally unhappy about giving a bottle.

We don't eat in the loo so why expect our babies to?

Mothercare is better but a room with two chairs in? Come on, 5 or 6 would be more realistic.

Im going to write a letter. After all, I have spent well over £200 in Boots since my DD was born.

OP posts:
JoyeuxNoelBiggy · 26/12/2007 01:03

Provide a nappy changing room, lovely, thanks very much. Provide a feeding room, that's great. Provide a "parents' room" where you're supposed to sit and feed a baby next to an overflowing shit-bucket - thanks but no thanks.

Often the places where you "make do" are better than rooms they've provided especially.

MommalovesHerSpanglyXmasName · 26/12/2007 01:34

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

FlllightAttendant · 26/12/2007 06:04

I was glad they had a room in our big Boots, when I discovered it a few months ago. However it was filthy. The seat was just covered in stains and although I didn't mind about the baby changing bit being in the same room, as it didn't smell the one time I used it, I would not really want to sit on that chair again.

You would think someone might clean it once in a while...

Pixiefish · 26/12/2007 08:04

be careful about complaining as they may just take the facility away and just provide a changing table in the toilets

Sufi · 26/12/2007 10:51

i didn't know there were such things as feeding rooms - but given how grotty most nappy changing facs are, would prob. give them a miss anyway..

but, totally sympathise about not wanting to whip your boobs out in public - am a first timer myself with a 6wk old and sometimes it can take a while, waving my nips in the air, to get him latched on

my advice:

  • get bf tops/vests, they really help. h&m do good ones
  • find nice comfy family-friendly cafe, and sit in an 'unexposed' seat
  • use scarf or muslin square while latching on/coming off to hide your boobs
  • take a friend/dh/mother for moral support the first few times you bf in public

i've also found that people really do seem to respect your privacy, and tend not to look/stare, so would encourage you to get out of grotty feeding rooms and enjoy a better view than a blank wall!

good luck xx

hoppybird · 26/12/2007 12:28

I agree, it's not nice feeding a baby next to an overflowing nappy bin, although the problem with these kinds of rooms is how often the bins are emptied and the room cleaned, rather than if there is a feeding area at all. Yes, it can be a bit daunting for a first-timer to feed in a public place, it's easier if you do it the first few times with a friend/partner - department store cafes are usually good as they have toilets nearby, if your baby is of the type to fill their nappy straight after a feed.

On the same kind of subject, I was in John Lewis, and my dd needed feeding and changing, and I noticed they had a "parent's room", so I thought I'd have a look. It was a very large, clean area with lots of separate changing zones and also larger zones with chairs for feeding. I was about to sit down to feed in a room with about 10 chairs, when I noticed a sign by the chairs which said "bottle feeding area", which I read outloud, incredulously - surely just "feeding area" would have been enough? (or no sign at all, isn't it obvious?) I was about to sit down, when a young father pointed out that there was a "breast feeding area" around the corner. I said "really?!" in an astounded tone of voice - I went to that area just out of curiosity (only 5 chairs LOL). I was amazed at the unnecessary feeding apartheid, although sort of well done to John Lewis for acknowledging that breastfeeders exist.

Original poster
EdieMcredie · 26/12/2007 15:07

MotherFunk-calm down, was just making a point that some mothers may not feel it is appropriate to feed next to a bin

In the early days it is hard to know when feeding times are

Im not taking about wanting a ''special'' room. But a chair next to a bin is not good enough IMO.

I don't think you can be too ''precious'' when it comes to feeding your chid. I agree, I don't particularly mind where I change her as long as it's clean. But I don't think feeding a baby next to a bin is hygenic.

And a baby eating is the same as an adult if you ask me. And we were all one once...

OP posts:
pukkapatch · 26/12/2007 15:11

edie, please do write the letter.
however, other than the initial few weeks, i never bothered with feeding rooms. just feedin a nice comfy chair, cafe, bench, bit of floor. cover up baby with a scarf blankie etc so no boob showing. or not iff excessively hot, and no air con.

Original poster
EdieMcredie · 26/12/2007 15:12

Addicted-Ours has just a really dirty changing area.

OP posts:
Original poster
EdieMcredie · 26/12/2007 15:13

Maybe it's just me but I don't find breastfeeding that easy and prob wouldn't manage on a bench!

Thanks though, nice to get other's opinions

OP posts:
pukkapatch · 26/12/2007 15:15

how old is yourbaby? i didnt manage to feed on a bench till much more established. iyswim. first few weeks, it had to be particular spot in bed, with correct number of pillows positioned just so, with drink of water, and readign material to hand.
a few months downt ht eline, i actualy fed whilst perched on a railing

Original poster
EdieMcredie · 26/12/2007 15:17

She is 3 months. Can do it without the pillows but if I don't have something to rest my arm on, it kills!

She likes long feeds

OP posts:
pukkapatch · 26/12/2007 15:24

find a nice sofa in starbucks, and feed there.
or feed in a cafe with nice chairs. work out where all the nice palces to sit are in your local shoppin garea. go only there.
but i still think you should write that letter.

discoverlife · 26/12/2007 15:30

If ever you are really stuck, I used to find that health centres etc. were always willing to find me a room out of the way. But feeding in public was never really a problem for me. A shawl or pashmina can totally hide any exposure of flesh.

Original poster
EdieMcredie · 26/12/2007 15:47

Feeding in public is not a problem for me either. But for some it is, and the point still stands that most people would not want to eat next to a bin.

OP posts:
FlllightAttendant · 26/12/2007 18:50

I have to say, I fed ds1 pretty much anywhere, in town, on doorsteps in back streets if we were stuck. This time I have actively avoided going into town as I feel very vulnerable and conspicuous feeding in public. I felt funny about it the first time too, but was quite bolshy about the whole thing so didn't figure out exactly how it made me feel.
This time I have fed twice in cafes, but very well hidden. Once after leaving said cafe, in a car park by a back door of a shop, on the pavement. Praying nobody saw me as they went by.
I couldn't afford to buy another drink just to go back to the cafe.
It isn't the position...I feed lying down, sitting at the computer (like now!), cleaning the microwave with one hand, and get this, sawing a worktop with one hand - not a jigsaw, a proper saw. I have no idea how I did that except he was much younger and smaller than he is now, and I was able to crouch, and I needed to saw that worktop..
But just that I have had odd comments, stares and pervy men watching while I have fed in public before, and have no wish to go through any of that again. It is my breast, my baby, and my privacy.
I am grateful for any room there is, really. As long as it is private and free of charge.

Original poster
EdieMcredie · 26/12/2007 18:54

But you would probably rather do it somewhere clean?

I still think that if breastfeeding is best then places have a responsibility to provide somewhere half decent. If not places like Boots, then big shopping malls who make an absolute mint.

OP posts:
FlllightAttendant · 26/12/2007 18:55

Oh and I am funny about public loos for any of us, so I change baby in the pram or in the car, now we have one. I would not want to use a 'facility' for that. School toilets when I was a teenager left me with PTSD

FlllightAttendant · 26/12/2007 18:56

Oh definitely, see my post further down

Original poster
EdieMcredie · 26/12/2007 19:01

Yes I just saw that

OP posts:
needmorecoffee · 26/12/2007 19:08

You try finding somewhere to change a 4 yo in a wheelchair that isn't the floor. Or feed them without gawping.
There is nowhere in our city to change a disabled child. WTF we gonna do when she's 18 and needs a hoist to get her out of the wheelchair and needs her nappy changed?
Used to feed my older kids pretty much anywhere, any cafe, park bench or what have you, that was 15 years ago and feeding rooms were very rare (none in the town I lived in)

FlllightAttendant · 26/12/2007 19:16

NMC it must be very tough going with an older child. People can be very ignorant.

Edie, I shouldn't post twice on one thread, it is a very bad habit!!!

MotherFunk · 26/12/2007 19:26

Message withdrawn

juuule · 26/12/2007 19:43

Agree with MotherFunk. Both the fact that you shouldn't expect anywhere specific to breast or bottle feed a baby in the normal run of things and that Needmorecoffee's post should put this into perspective.

Pannacotta · 26/12/2007 20:09

I try and find a cafe with low armchairs (Pret, Starbucks etc) and feed DS there.
Refuse to go and feed him in a smelly old nappy room and I feel that the more mothers who breastfeed in public, the less we will feel the need to feed hiding away in separate, gloomy (and stinky) rooms.

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