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Infant feeding

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

Original poster

i saw a real life hooter-hider

316 replies

wahwah1270 · 12/07/2009 22:35

in an uber baby friendly south london pub today, the sort of place where no one bats an eyelid that i feed one year old dd, a woman put this ridiculous lime green hooter hider on to feed her young baby son. if she hadnt worn the hooter hider i doubt i'd have noticed her feeding. i sooooooooo wanted to tell her not to bother with it but bit my tongue. am i alone in not getting the hooter hider concept?

OP posts:
megapixels · 23/07/2010 11:24

All I care is that women have the freedom to feed their babies in public when they want.

Whether they draw attention to the fact that they're feeding is completely upto them. I don't see anything wrong with it. What's wrong with people knowing that someone is feeding their baby?

I wouldn't wear one of those hooter hiders (ugh, even typing that horrible name is hard), but if that makes women comfortable about bfing in public, all power to them.

Let them wear that, or even have someone hold up muslin sheets around them if they want (don't know why anyone has a problem with that, not affecting anyone else!), all I care is that women are allowed to get on with the job of breastfeeding whatever way they want to.

eeyore2 · 23/07/2010 11:27

I don't understand why it is 'bad' to be ashamed of breastfeeding in public but also 'bad' to draw attention to the fact one is breastfeeding by using an apron. Surely if you have ever breastfed a baby you will have had moments when you could have done with a little more time to get the latch right which is difficult in public if you are uncomfortable with other people seeing your nipples. I say good luck to the apron users. Nobody is saying that everyone has to use them but if they help some people, then there is no reason to sneer at them.

AhickeyfromKenickie · 23/07/2010 11:28

alyson - www.bebeaulait.com/

Broderie · 23/07/2010 11:30

I agree with scottishmummy. You either want to increase breastfeeding rates or you don't. Whyare you taking the piss out of mums that are not comfortable about feeding in public but may have found a way to makes them feel more at ease, this is surely a step in the right direction? Or would you rather they bottlefeed because they will never be confident to feed without some kind of sheild?

No wonder women suffer from insecurity alot. i don't know if those of you finger pointing are more insecure though why cant we all just support one another a bit more?

Morloth · 23/07/2010 11:34

Sorry, complete OTT.

Do you think a 4yo would like one of those towels? I need a pressie for a friend's little girl and we are meeting up with them at the beach, I know it says for 0-24mths, but they are so pretty and would still wrap around a smallish 4yo, you think?

Booboobedoo · 23/07/2010 11:42

This thread has inspired me to go out and buy the most massive, hideously-patterned Hooter Hider I can find for my next baby.

Attitudes like the OPs were one of the causes of my huge difficulty in breast-feeding.

As Morloth pointed out, 'getting them out for the cause' is just one added pressure too many on top of all the usual new-mum madness.

(Reminds me of that massively bitchy Denise VO thread recently).

It's marvellous that you are comfortable with people seeing your tits, but being told that I should be makes me grit my teeth.

(And mine always showed because they're massive).

jobobpip08 · 23/07/2010 11:42

Looked at the link -OMG! Seems a bit extreme but each to their own. I always used to feed my son before we went out, he would never say no! Not that I was ashamed of BF, but despite being tightly swaddled he always managed to get his fists out and in his mouth - remove one, the other went in. Any attempts at BF in public would have ended with me having boob hanging out for a while whilst I tried to pin both his arms down and get them back inside and re-swaddle. If it was anything like at home, if he then decided to detach you would also have the jet of milk (which always surpised me how far it could go).... I had my limits and squirting in public was beyond them

Broderie · 23/07/2010 11:50

mine are massive aswell and I always had really nosey babies

BoffinMum · 23/07/2010 11:51

Starts Father Jack type outburst.

"BOSOM BURQA!"

CakeandRoses · 23/07/2010 11:52

LOL at job's squirting in public! I'd forgotten about the danger of that too!

BoffinMum · 23/07/2010 11:53

Why don't people just use a baby shawl or muslin to screen themselves? Why does it need a special product?

My DH reckons babies fed under these will develop abnormally and end up associating being fed with being in the dark.

BoffinMum · 23/07/2010 11:55

DH also reckons they should produce one of those breastfeeding hats with a target painted on it for a laff.

snowdropz · 23/07/2010 11:57

Someone I know used one - it was a hot day and no one batted an eye lid.

I certainly did not judge her for it.

I do not see the issue.

Each to their own.

CakeandRoses · 23/07/2010 12:05

Boffin - cos a shawl or muslin can easily be pulled off by a wriggily/grabby baby - my DS used to do it all the time until I got one of the hooter hider type things.

Is your DH serious ?? How is the darkness invoked by a hooter hider (not that dark anyway as there's an opening at the top) any different to the darkness invoked by a shawl?

Or maybe my DS has developed abnormally and I just haven't noticed...

porcamiseria · 23/07/2010 12:06

there is NO WAY I want to flash my Mams to the world. I dont give a shit if they are "natural", they are HUGE and ....shudder

but whats wrong with a shawl or pashmina!

I have a new sling for DC2 and I have high hopes for it with regards to public feeding

BaggedandTagged · 23/07/2010 12:06

I'm glad that the MN bf mafia have now found a new strata in the mc mummy superiority stakes.

Let me know if i have this right

  1. Mums who bf for >2 years
  2. Mums who bf for >6 months
  3. Mums who bf for > 3 months
  4. Mums who do any of the above but have the audacity to want to not flash their boobs in public
  5. Mass murderers
  6. Formula feeding scum
Booboobedoo · 23/07/2010 12:08

Exactly.

My arse is 100% natural too, but best kept under wraps for public health reasons.

I like to retain a mysterious allure...

porcamiseria · 23/07/2010 12:08

oh bless I just saw the link, its like a MASSIVE TENT!!!!

each to their own, but dont blame people for wanting privacy, at all!

porcamiseria · 23/07/2010 12:15

cant beleive some people have got snooty about it, fuck off! I can see the humor value in it but I would never sneer. I am stressing about it myself TBH

BoffinMum · 23/07/2010 12:21

Of course he wasn't blardy serious.

I think that hierarchy of norks is spot on, btw.

BoffinMum · 23/07/2010 12:22

But there's organic formula and non-organic formula, which would be at the very bottom.

CakeandRoses · 23/07/2010 12:29

ah phew re Boffin. Was getting myself all worked up there for a moment!

yy re organic vs non-organic

MotherofPearl · 23/07/2010 12:33

I really don't think anyone on this thread (if I may be so bold as to speak for all!) is 'sneering' or being 'snooty' or critising the hooder-hider mums for concealing their breasts when BF - BUT maybe are saying it's a pity that BF so stigmatised that women feel they can't just casually get on with it, and that nobody will notice or care. Seems to stem from 2 things - weird pathologisation of BF in our society, plus usual stuff about women's unhappiness/self-consciousness if their bodies less than so-called 'perfect' (or we perceive them as less than perfect). Just seems a shame it can't be normalised...

RGPargy · 23/07/2010 12:35

I have just looked up Hooter Hider on google and they look awful!! I was very shy about BF in public but there's no way i would have worn one of those!!

CakeandRoses · 23/07/2010 12:40

I disagree MoP - I think posters have been sneering of the hooter hiders and as an extension of that hiding breasts/bf.

I also disagree that this is just about bf is stigmatised: I don't have any hang-ups about my body but I still don't want to let random people see my breasts regardless of whether I'm bf.