How "visible" is BF round your way?

[peacelily]

This is in no way meant as an anti-ff thread, I may well and up ff myself if my bf experienecs are anything like last time (am 5 weeks pg)

However I live in an affluent, slightly "bohemian" area inhabited by all sorts of people and lots of young families but am saddened by the scarcity of public bf.

It's not that I expect to see it everywhere but mpre frequently than i do. There are SO many Mums with babies about and TBH if you can't relax and feel comfortable bf here then I don't know where you could?!

One of my main probs last time was the acute fear someone would say something to me whilst Bfeeding in public, I know it's stupid but I just don't have the confidence to shake those sorts of comments off even though I know they're wrong. I really want to make a go of it this time though.

I would love to see it more normalised then I'm sure me and many of my friends would feel more relaxed about the whole thing. My Dutch friend however bfs with confidence anywhere and I wish I could be like that. I know that's partly to do with her culture.

How visible is it round your way??

West London - BF totally the norm as far as I could see when I had DS.
Why is it so different in London to other parts of the UK?

Tits everywhere in Crouch End. I see it as our duty to bf in public, if you are bf at home, to encourage the others.

I did feel out of place though in the City, but gritted my teeth and got on with it.

LOL, Wastingeducation ("fat woman in Doncaster is me" bit).

BF in public is pretty unusual here, N Norfolk. It's not even very common within most toddler groups, tbh. I seem to get spoken to about brfeeding a fair bit by other mums, I think they know me as the Hairy Hippy With Babe on Boob in Public Places, so I will sympathic to anything going on with brfding.

The Thursday Mundesley Baby Cafe (breastfeeding suport group) was heaving though, when I went.

What is being done in London that is not being done elsewehere?

You can't move for boobs here in Notting Hill. Someone (staff) at gymboree in bayswater asked my friend to stop bf her little one after the class as it "made some of the dads uncomfortable" (quite how they could when they were mainly sitting at their desks in EC2 is anyone's guess ). The offender quietly disappeared from the staff not long after... And rightly so.

In my part of SE London, lots - park, playgroup, cafe - but much more the norm for little babies. Over 6 months, not so much. Fed dd just about anywhere - and generally veto'ed feeding rooms due to poo smells. No one ever said a thing, although did get some double-takes when visiting family in Ireland.

Never really noticed until I had DS (someone earlier wondered if it was because bf was more discreet than ff, and I think maybe it is - have photos of me bf on facebook and you would just think I was cuddling a sleeping baby!)

Now that I notice, because I am a bf mum, I've realised that bf is more common than ff around here. I live in Ealing (so yet another west Londoner). Nobody bats an eyelid in the cafes around here, however much norkage is on display, but then Ealing is a bit of a nappy valley so they would go out of business if they kicked out bf mums...

I try not to use feeding rooms - prefer to be having a drink myself and feeding rooms (apart from M&S Ealing, which has comfy seats) usually smell horrid! - plus I kind of consider it part of my duty as a bf mum to normalise it in public.

Hey wastingeducation, only 'fat woman in donny' Bf is me when sitting by a mirror but will look out next time!