Breastfeeding in public

[Noona86]

I have a nearly 5 week old and obviously have been mostly house bound apart from the occasional very short walk after having a c section. Yesterday I met another new mum friend and despite having timed leaving the house after a mega feed and assuming the baby would be ok for an hour, she went absolutely mad half way through our walk and was screaming and going bright red in a way I’ve never seen before! We were a good 15 mins from home and in the end I broke the rules and fed her in my friend’s garden on the way back as I was so anxious due to her screeching and I felt somehow scared to just sit on a bench alone in public with her. It made me think though, as a totally new mum who hasn’t had any ‘chances’ or need to breastfeed in public, do people basically just feed on demand wherever they are, be it a bench, at a table in a restaurant, in the doctors waiting room, at the bus stop?! Are there are places it’s deemed ‘inappropriate’? I’d hope the case was no, but it’s all so new to me I don’t want to face any awkward scenarios - it all seems very daunting/exposing! I just can’t imagine being somewhere with a hungry screaming baby and having to wait to get home/ find a ‘suitable’ spot once things start to open up again.

@Noona86

I have a nearly 5 week old and obviously have been mostly house bound apart from the occasional very short walk after having a c section. Yesterday I met another new mum friend and despite having timed leaving the house after a mega feed and assuming the baby would be ok for an hour, she went absolutely mad half way through our walk and was screaming and going bright red in a way I’ve never seen before! We were a good 15 mins from home and in the end I broke the rules and fed her in my friend’s garden on the way back as I was so anxious due to her screeching and I felt somehow scared to just sit on a bench alone in public with her. It made me think though, as a totally new mum who hasn’t had any ‘chances’ or need to breastfeed in public, do people basically just feed on demand wherever they are, be it a bench, at a table in a restaurant, in the doctors waiting room, at the bus stop?! Are there are places it’s deemed ‘inappropriate’? I’d hope the case was no, but it’s all so new to me I don’t want to face any awkward scenarios - it all seems very daunting/exposing! I just can’t imagine being somewhere with a hungry screaming baby and having to wait to get home/ find a ‘suitable’ spot once things start to open up again.

DS fed so often I stopped caring about public feeding after 2 weeks lol. Appreciate you do care so What might help is wearing nursing tops or layering existing tops so one can be pushed up, the other down and you don’t expose too much.

DS doesn’t get on with them but another option is a nursing cover. You can get them quite cheaply. They fit like an apron around your neck so you and baby can see each other but nobody else can.

I've breastfed four babies and have always fed them wherever we happen to be when they get hungry. I never knew when they were going to be awake/hungry when they were tiny anyway!

I tried to time it for when I could get to a cafe so I could eat cake at the same time, but now COVID has put paid to that!

I've fed on boats, aeroplanes, trains and busses. At the beach, at the swimming pool, up a volcano, in the street, walking round the garden centre (you know you've cracked it when you can feed the baby, push the pram, and stop the older kids spending spending spending all at once!) .... wherever I have been, I have fed.

Good luck with your breastfeeding journey. I hope you don't get funny looks or comments, but if you do, take no notice. You're doing the best for your baby and are protected by law; if people have a problem with you feeding in public they should write to their MP about it, not give you any grief whatsoever!

Hi OP and congratulations!

There's nowhere inappropriate to feed your hungry baby. I've fed mine everywhere from a train (right now!), the pub, restaurants and even in church when unavoidable. It's the most natural thing in the world and you shouldn't worry about reactions of others. Use a light scarf or similar to cover up if you feel the need, but please don't let anyone make you feel like you shouldn't feed anywhere that YOU feel comfortable. Best of luck.

I have fed mine while eating in a restaurant by a nice busy seafront walkway in a conservative country (quite a few women wear burkas)

I have always chosen to cover with a big light cotton cloth (stuck with pegs nice ones). No one has ever said anything whatsoever or even gave me strange looks. Hummm maybe just wondering what the big cloth was about I saw a lady BF a toddler during the olympics under a massive flag!

I used to say to my daughter 'be cool', and even though she couldn't understand a fig, she knew I meant 'please latch quickly and use your giant head to protect my modesty' 😂

@ScarfaceCwaw

Yes, you can feed anywhere. I fed both of mine anywhere and everywhere I could sit down. Cafe, doctors, sat on a wall or on the grass under a tree. Passenger seat of the car as PP said. (PARKED car!)

I generally preferred to find a cafe and have a drink if I could, which is of course harder right now, but I've plonked myself down on the ground outside many times.

Kind of private actually but I've had to feed in a moving car with the baby strapped to the carseat. Yeah.... just slinged the boob there and baby stopped crying

I've fed my baby in church every Sunday since church reopened! I'm pretty sure she thinks church means "baby restaurant". I do use a cover because I'm more comfortable with one, but I'd do that anywhere I'm out and about (not that I am much at the moment!)

Anywhere is fine, a couple of months ago I had to feed my then 3 month old while standing in a queue in lidl. Noone will care and most would probably prefer a quiet baby to a screamy one.
Apart from the fact it is no one's business. Noone would judge a baby bottle feeding out and about, breastfed babies get hungry out too.

Another vote for breastfeed anywhere! Even though my baby was born 6m ago in lockdown, in the breaks between lockdowns it was pub, train, bus, tube, station platform, nice restaurant, sitting on a random wall (I was far from home or a park). I second a pp who said the only uncomfortable thing is feeding in the rain or cold. A windy snowy day was the worst. Once only, a couple of nasty women gave me strange looks on the tube, and no man ever has. It's very much the exception, most people are totally uninterested xxx

Ps I treated myself to some pretty breastfeeding dresses from Mango and H+M, and a shop called Juno and Jack. One of them is super glam, a cocktail dress (I was going to wear it for new year's eve then lockdown prevented that!)
If you can afford it, treat yourself to some nice breastfeeding tops and dresses, the kind that aren't maternity shape. I was so tired of wearing shapeless pregnancy-bump clothes!