Classic comment on Easyjet Website re breastfeeding on board!

[saladsucks]

I found this when searching in the FAQ section of Easyjet's website:

"Can I breastfeed onboard?

Yes, you can breastfeed onboard at any time except during taking off and landing, when you must remain seated with your seat belt fastened."

How exactly do easyjet think women breastfeed?

I've always used the lap belts, and bf on take off and landing. Never had any problems. Are Easyjet referring to a Little Britain type scenario here?

ha ha - there was a very funny film on here a couple of years ago of a woman standing on her head and her baby crawing up to her and feeding while she was doing it - maybe that's the soprt of thing tjey wanted to avoid?!

BoffinMum, the stewardess was following the guidelines/regulations of the flight company, not what she thought best. It's very sad isn't it.

Yes, but that is her job, everso, and she had to hope they were right. They weren't. But she could not do anything else.

Imagine for one moment that stewardesses started giving out random untested safety advice like HVs sometimes give out random bf advice.

There are times you have to do what you are told and give a consistent message. The other three babies happened to avoid being hit by flying debris, as I understand it. Perhaps this is because they were on the floor?

There were conflicting imperatives.

When I flew in the US when DD was 9mo (1997, post this crash mentioned) they didn't issue the belt 'extensions' - you either held your baby or you bought a seat for it and used an FAA-approved device (oh how much hassle that caused on a Virgin flight back from DC to London.

HeadFairy your link says the child on the floor died from smoke inhalation.

(must preview) we were transferred onto a United flight with our 12 mo old and when I asked for the belt for her the stewardess said they didn't use them (March 2008)

I'm still not sure that the orange belts would achieve much - in the link that headfairy provides it seems like they are trying to campaign for seats with belts for all children, not just lap belts on their parents seats - the "lessons learned" section says:

"Of the four children deemed too young to have seats of their own ('lap children'), one died from smoke inhalation.[3] The NTSB added a safety recommendation to the FAA on its "List of Most Wanted Safety Improvements," the response to which was flagged on NTSB's website as an "acceptable response, progressing slowly." It also sparked a campaign, led by United Flight 232's senior flight attendant, Jan Brown Lohr, for all children to have seats on aircraft."

I have always thought that in an accident a child on a lap would be at huge risk - if you adopt the brace position with them on your lap you would risk crushing them with your body weight - and in most economy seats there is so little room that they would just be propelled into the back of the seat in front. Plus the belt is only around their middle - it wouldn't provide any effective restraint in the event of any kind of impact.

But then most airline safety measures are more designed to reassure passengers than actually convey any benefit - like the little whistle on your life jacket that they carefully demonstrate and advise you to use "for attracting attention" in the event of a crash - well! even setting aside the fact that until the recent crash on the Hudson there wasn't one single successful water crash-landing in over 150 million commercial flights, you would think that a flaming plane carrying 300 screaming passengers crashing into the ocean would be the major way of attracting attention, not a bloody whistle!

Anyhoo, bit of a digression from the original OP of breastfeeding in an overhead locker or whatever...

oooh - an overhead locker, that's a good idea. I had considered asking the captain if I could sit in the cockpit so as not to bother other passengers!

I think the point of seatbelts is that they stop bodies flying around the cabin and hitting other things.

I have never understood why:

1. We don't have seatbelts on planes like the pilot has, i.e. with two straps coming over the shoulders.

1. The seats don't face backwards so the seat absorbs the impact.

Anyone know why this is?

The whistle on the lifebelt was very useful to Kate Winslet in Titanic, don't knock them!

DH has just said that he reckons some daft bloke wrote the Easyjet FAQ, and will have assumed mothers always bf in the toilet.

UUUGH!!

Where does that come from though - it wouldnt even occur to me to bf in the toilet.

Boffinmum - do we face forwards to stop us feeling sick?

Some RAF passenger planes have rear facing seats for safety reasons.

Hf - Well if it's good enough for them, why not us??

GiantKate - I think people bf in toilets if they have forgotten their hooter hiders.

there is less room to bf in an airline toilet than there is sitting in your seat. an if everyone faces forwards then only the airline staff can see your hooters!

I agree that when easyjet wrote the FAQ's they were assuming that mothers would bf in the toilet.