Considering the number of times there've been stories in the press recently about BFing women being treated appallingly as well as some of the ill-informed comments made on threads like this and the comments sections of articles on breastfeeding maybe MN should run a campaign on infant feeding. Name and shame the shit businesses, champion the friendly ones, remind people of their right to feed their baby wherever they want (within the law) an challenge some of the attitudes towards feeding.
I've got three children. I've formula fed, mixed fed and breastfed. I have never had one single negative comment made to me while bottle feeding, no one has batted so much as an eye at me. Ditto the mixed feeding, mainly as I tended to BF at home and FF when out and about. This time I'm BFing and there are no end of comments. How do I know he's getting enough. I'll make him clingy for me whereas with a bottle he'll learn to go to anyone. I must stop when he gets teeth or when he gets old enough to shove my top up for himself because it looks awful when babies do that. It's not really fair on my other children that I'm having to sit for 20-30 minutes and feed the baby. He'll never sleep through the night while he breastfed.
And that's just from well-meaning family (FIL was absolutely mortified yesterday when he realised I'd been BFing the whole time he'd been talking to me).
I haven't had any negative comments in public (yet) but, my god, people stare. Not all of them but enough. They glance over to see what you're doing then keep glancing until you're finished. Others will stare fixedly the whole time. Some smile when you catch their eye or say something nice about the baby/feeding, others filthy look you and look away. One woman at the next table to mine in a cafe have me a hard stare the whole time I was feeding the baby and kept muttering to her partner while staring at me. I know the owner, she noticed and bustled over, loudly proclaiming how "lovely" I looked and "doesn't she look lovely?! Isn't it so nice to see a mummy feeding her baby?!" to the staring woman, staring woman stopped staring but left without finishing her lunch. Feeding on a bench at the park, beautiful spring afternoon, watching DD and DH feed the ducks, I had two seperate pairs of people do a whole 'nudge, nudge' thing complete with head nod in my direction while smirking at the person they were with. I took the DC to softplay and needed to feed the baby, the woman at the next table turned her back while her husband watched me.
I don't get my whole boob out, I am very discrete. I wear a vest under my top. Top goes up, I position DS in front of whichever breast he's starting on, I pull my vest down enough for him to get my nipple. Breast is covered above by my top, below by my vest, and in front by DS massive head. I've checked in front of a mirror and with DH, nothing can be seen so its not like I'm whapping one out and waggling it at passersby.
Attitudes to breastfeeding in this country are shocking, it's no wonder so few women take it up and of those that do its no wonder so many of them stop by six weeks. Where I live 80% of women start off breastfeeding, by the 6-8wk postnatal check only 10% of them are breastfeeding. It's easy to see why.