Breastfeeding in public in Italy

[monkeysmama]

Going to Umbria in August for 2 weeks with dp, dd (will be 3 months) another couple and their ds (5 yrs) and dd (6 months). My dd is solely breastfed. I am part Italian, lived there for years and speak the language fluently and I know Italy is great for kids but have never been there with my own baby. Is it okay to breastfeed discretely in public?

Hi Monkeysmama - I've no actual experience of BFing in Italy, but it is very family friendly and Italians genuinely love babies and small children. I can't see there would be a problem with it at all. Have fun and enjoy the wonderful food.

hi! i am italian but live in uk. i wd say it's absolutely ok, based on the fact that i have done it often

No problem at all - There are not so many 'change places' but bf is seen as 100% natural I never had any problems . Have a great time Umbria is so beautiful

You won't even need to be excessively discreet either. I used to whip mine out ungraciously in all occasions and I've never seen anyone faffing around with muslin cloths or special tops here.

As Rosa said though you'll be hard pressed to find baby changing and everywhere will be totally pushchair unfriendly, but you will get offered a chair and a glass of water if someone spots you trying to feed your baby.

oh and you should expect to have random strangers coming up at you and wishing to discuss in detail how much milk you have, how you are feeding baby etc. For some reason italians are obsessed with baby nutrition...