Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Infant feeding

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

Original poster

can/should/would you breastfeed an upset 1 yr old in a public swimming pool?

315 replies

preggerspoppet · 12/04/2008 20:50

By popping your boob out right there and then?

OP posts:
kiskideesameanoldmother · 13/04/2008 16:14

also at 'manners'

LynetteScavo · 13/04/2008 16:52

You can be shocked at "manners". IMO exposing a whole breast in publicis bad manners. I am very pro BF, and part of my pro BF argument is that it is not neccessary to get your breasts out while feeding. (and no I would never use a hooter hider! )

If this were a "would you give your baby a rice cake in the pool to comfort them?" I would say "no, not in the pool,"

We are not talking a hungry tiny baby here, but an upset baby who needed comfort.
"desreet" was a typo, I do know it's "discrete". Please note,I am a poor speller, I never pretend to be the best speller in the world, but hope other MNetters are able to tolerate it.

LynetteScavo · 13/04/2008 16:54

re weeing in public, if your toddler needed a wee while in the pool would you drag baby and older child of to the loos? A bit of wee in the pool will make no difference, surely?

RubyRioja · 13/04/2008 17:02

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

kiskideesameanoldmother · 13/04/2008 17:19

I find the manners of a lot of women below par when they walk with more tit on display on a Saturday at the local shopping centre than the average bfing woman would have on display while bfing a child poolside.

but that is just me.

surely a bit of milk in the pool doesn't cause anymore harm that a bit of piss in the pool. rofl.

still can't understand how you equate human milk (food) with human piss (bodily waste). but again, that is just me.

Anna8888 · 13/04/2008 17:21

Oh God yes I've breastfed a toddler in a public pool.

Bikinis so useful.

frasersmummy · 13/04/2008 17:56

What is wrong with sitting on the side??

I respect everyone's right to bf in public and like I have said before. I think a breastfeeding mum is a beautiful sight. It makes me wish I had done it

but.....

why not respect those of us who want to clown around in the pool with a 3 year old

I would be constantly saying come over here.. mind the baby etc.. and thats not fair on anyone

yes I know I would be saying that if there was a smaller child in the pool.. but its a lot harder for bf mum to move baby out of our way when they are latched on

mehdismummy · 13/04/2008 18:15

what size pool do you go in fraser? Surely pools are big enough to accomodate everyone. Why should we sit on the side? If my ds wanted feeding i would give him it i dont care if some sad cases dont agree with it. Its a free country.

belgo · 13/04/2008 18:21

I wouldn't even notice if a mother was bfing in a swimming pool. I'm far too busy paying attention to my own children. And I would be trying to make sure they didn't disturb other mothers and babies in the pool anyway, whether or not the baby was being bf is irrelevant to this.

hercules1 · 13/04/2008 18:49

Frasermummy - why on earth would you be saying that to your 3 year old? How strange.
Does your 3 year old normally bump into people standing in a swimming pool? Is it really such a big deal if they do?

verylittlecarrot · 13/04/2008 20:08

"IMO exposing a whole breast in publicis bad manners."

But exposing a whole bottle is OK?
Because one is something that really should be kept hidden away, and the other is something that is seen every day, so is not offensive to see. Right?

Pah. Time to change that double standard, methinks.

For the record;

IMO making other people feel uncomfortable when they are simply trying to get on with feeding their babies - now THAT is bad manners.

Live and let live, please. Tolerance and understanding.

LynetteScavo · 13/04/2008 20:26

Very Little carrot, making someone feel uncomfortable for feeding their baby is bad manners, I totally agree.

If we are to live harmoniously in this world, we all have to consider other peoples feelings and beliefs.

Califrau · 13/04/2008 20:32

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

policywonk · 13/04/2008 20:32

But Lynette, the fact that public breastfeeding makes others uncomfortable is based on a fundamental (although widespread) mistake: that breasts are not for feeding babies. If our society was more comfortable with breasts as baby-feeders, then this issue simply would not exist. So those who bf in public without worrying about being discreet are not being inconsiderate, they are doing something positive to normalise something that should already be totally unremarkable, but is not because of our screwed-up perceptions of breasts.

I agree that consideration is important, but in this instance it is counter-productive.

PinkTulips · 13/04/2008 20:40

yes
yes
yes

tbh, if it had just been me and the baby who needed feeding/comfort i would have gone to the benches for my own comfort but as i had and older toddler with me too who i couldn't leave that wasn't an option.

the woman who i went to the pool with every week was in the same situation and also fed in the pool and right beside it almost every week.

just practice your 'are you lookin at me?' glare and get on with it and ignore the prudes

well done

Piffle · 13/04/2008 20:59

God am now pondering what constitutes an innapropriate place to breast feed? Or is it the manner in which the way the offensive article breast is presented. Blatant breastfeeding? Que?
comfort food whatever. If your child is soothed that way then do it whenever and wherever you need or want to.
Can we start a thread about people who feed their kids total sugar or artificially sweetened shit in public, cos that really enrages me?
no of course we can't
because that's my opinion and my beliefs and I can only apply them to my kids!

Ridiculous! As if breastfeeding in a pool is more sensational and inappropriate than the front cover of magazines in the pool shop.

LynetteScavo · 13/04/2008 21:30

I don't think it is the breast feeding that would make people fee uncomfrtable, it is the sight of a naked breast. Naked breasts don't make me feel uncomfortable, if you all want to swim topless, that is fine with me.

Would you sit in front of a mosque, and half remove your summer top to feed?

Probably, but I wouldn't.

kelbel · 13/04/2008 21:37

i don't think anyone said it was offensive, personally i think it is a choice, i wouldn't do it, but wouldn't call people who do sad cases,

LynetteScavo · 13/04/2008 21:38

Oh, I should get over my prudish self. Stuff it, lets follow the Danish

fishie · 13/04/2008 21:40

oh come on. daily mail cocquette used to make your 'liberal' point?

VeniVidiVickiQV · 13/04/2008 21:42

A little bit of fisking covering comments from a couple of posts....

"You may all be happy getting your boobs out in public, but a lot of people are not, possibly resulting in the looks preggerspoppet recieved in the pool."

Dont get your boobs out in public then if you feel uncomfortable about it.

"I think it's also about manners. Is it really that polite to get your boobs out in the pool"

Why exactly is it impolite?

"Is it really that polite to get your boobs out in the pool, possibly making other poeple feel uncomfortable"

People could be polite and not look? Or, if they felt uncomfortable - they could just not look. I find it hard to believe a mother b/feeding her child can make anyone feel anything ambivolent.

"I really can't see a discrete way to feed while actually in the pool. "

Why exactly should a mother need to be discreet when feeding? Explain the offensiveness of feeding a child please, for those of us who appear to be accidentally offending the sensibilities of passers by.

"A bit like weeing in the pool, IMO."

How is it like weeing in the pool exactly? Do you find drinking cows milk equally offensive? Perhaps cheddar chomping revolts you too?

"I think Twiglett has been given a pretty hard time on this thread"

I think women who b/feed in public have been getting a harder time, personally.

"What is wrong with sitting on the side??"

What is wrong with NOT sitting on the side?

"why not respect those of us who want to clown around in the pool with a 3 year old

"I would be constantly saying come over here.. mind the baby etc.. and thats not fair on anyone"

How long exactly do think it would take to comfort this child, and shouldnt we all be supporting each other if we see another parent having a hard time, instead of seething at the possibility that this mother having a hard time is 'spoiling the fun'. How charitable of you.

I think I've covered all the points I particularly wanted to cover.

sophiesmiles · 13/04/2008 21:45

yes, I have done it before and will do it again

mazzystar · 13/04/2008 21:51

in the water, no
i wouldn't eat, drink or bottle feed a baby in the water either

aGalChangedHerName · 13/04/2008 21:53

I have bf poolside and in the pool and would again.

These threads depress me tbh and i never post on them normally. I just don't "get" why people get their knickers in a knot over something that in the great scheme of things is so normal and ordinary and dare i say it,mundane.

BF is something i do with and for my child amongst lots and lots of other things in the course of a day. I hope one day to see people look at bfing as nothing out of the ordinary iykwim? Just normal

policywonk · 13/04/2008 21:58

Lynette - I'd happily bf in front of a mosque (but then you'd already guessed that ). And I'd be happy for women to feel that it was as socially acceptable for them to walk around topless as it is for men (that's women of all ages, not just the young and pert).

Breasts are secondary sexual characteristics. Men have their secondary sexual characteristics on display plenty - people don't look askance on a bit of chest hair, do they?

The desire to keep real-life women's breasts under wraps while images of highly sexualised breasts are ubiquitous is deeply perverse, I think.