Breaking: breastfeeding woman offended, twitter outraged

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String said:
I was in a restaurant last year and there was an obese woman sitting opposite us, breast feeding her baby. It genuinely made me feel queasy and ruined my meal. I didn't enjoy seeing that any more than I would enjoy watching her change the little one's nappy.

There's a time and place.
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Boo! It's horrible!
 
Diddums said:
Personally I find breastfeeding disgusting and prefer not to see it. This is 100% my opinion and I expect nobody to cater towards it. It's also the second most intimate moments a mother will have with her child, second only to child birth. For this reason I will always prefer my wife to do it behind closed doors. I don't want to share the "wonders of raising a child" and all that with people I don't know. This is family stuff, to be kept in the family (in my case).
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Things change when you have a crying child that you have to feed.

Most mothers try and do so discretely, but you know what? When a newborn needs feeding, you can't just say "hold on little one, we will get to a quiet place and you can feed".

That said, it's not my place to judge others for their family habits, some might relish in the idea of sharing their moments with the rest of the world and I respect that and keep my opinions to myself.
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It's not about sharing a family moment, it's about necessity. Once you've been through it you realise that you don't have much of a choice at times.

Where do you draw the line though? I mean, was this lady sitting inconspicuously in a corner doing her thing or was she parading down the middle of the museum twirling in circles and intentionally showing off with a nipper sucking on her nipples? And whilst she should be allowed to breast feed, if the museum provided a suitable room or area to do so privately, should she have respected their will to have her do it in there?
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Most women would typically want to sit down (holding a child to breastfeed isn't always that particularly practical), and most women don't want to parade around going "look at me I'm breastfeeding!". Of course I'm sure there are exceptions that prove the rule...

As always with this topic, there are too many variables to come to a solution which keeps all happy. We have age differences, cultural differences, family values differences, etc. What annoys me with this kind of thing however is the need to cater to a minority as if they're some gift from God. No love, you're just another woman with another pair of norks with a toddler hanging off them. If other women can get through life without having to make a stink about something as silly as this, why can't you?
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There are no variables. She was within her rights, and precious busy body, close minded idiots decide to take offence. However, I do agree her taking offence and making a song and dance about it is just as bad as people who make a fuss about people who BF in public.

I do not understand why anyone would be uncomfortable by it, take offence by it, and feel the need to make a fuss about it.
 
Freefaller said:
Things change when you have a crying child that you have to feed.

Most mothers try and do so discretely, but you know what? When a newborn needs feeding, you can't just say "hold on little one, we will get to a quiet place and you can feed".
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What? Yes you can. Assuming, like most place, they had a mother and baby room, I believe I'm 100% correct in saying the baby would not have been harmed by spending 45 seconds walking to that room.

Esp since the infant in question was not a newborn, but 1 year old.
 
Children of that age do not need to be fed on demand, maybe if the child was 3 months old then fine but even then there are plenty of places to feed a child like the toilet?! Obviously people will disagree with me here but a child of that age simply can chew on a toy if he is hungry or some juice if he is thirsty and if he doesnt want that he can just wait. Jesus what is this world coming to!?
 
The variable for me is how it is done.

I don't expect a mother to not feed her child because she can't find a quiet place to do it.

However to not cover up just because she doesn't have to is ludicrous.

One of my friend's wives refused to cover up when she breastfed their daughter in public....for me completely unnecessary.

There is nothing remotely sexually provocative about watching a woman breastfeed her child but I question the mentality of a woman who doesn't want to cover up and add decency to it.
 
FoxEye said:
What? Yes you can. Assuming, like most place, they had a mother and baby room, I believe I'm 100% correct in saying the baby would not have been harmed by spending 45 seconds walking to that room.

Esp since the infant in question was not a newborn, but 1 year old.
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I've already suggested that at 1 we would probably approach it differently (i.e. offer a snack - which is easier anyway).

When you have to deal with a newborn, you want to feed the baby as quickly as possible, because a) it is stressful to you b) it is stressful to the child, c) it is stressful to everyone around you listening to a crying baby.

And so ******* what? It is what animals/mammals do - breast feed. If you think there's anything odd about that then you need to grow up frankly.


What I DO agree with people on is her making a fuss and being offended for being asked to be more discrete - she's being a bit of a dick too. She shouldn't have been asked, but to make a song and dance about it is frankly petty.
 
azazl187 said:
I personally say that she is a bit crazy deciding to breast feed her 3 year old in public. Children of that age do not need to be fed on demand, maybe if the child was 3 months old then fine but there are plenty of places to feed a child like the toilet?! Obviously people will disagree with me here but a child of that age simply can have a biscuit if he is hungry or some juice if he is thirsty and if he doesnt want that he can just wait. Jesus what is this world coming to!?
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Indeed! Sadly common sense and decency is lacking in many people...


Foxeye said:
What? Yes you can. Assuming, like most place, they had a mother and baby room, I believe I'm 100% correct in saying the baby would not have been harmed by spending 45 seconds walking to that room.

Esp since the infant in question was not a newborn, but 1 year old.
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Quite good sir! Too much of an inconvenience for them i would imagine. I mean why do that and waste 45 odd seconds getting to the private space..when you can flaunt and display oneself in public and cause a stir.

Civility is lost on some people.
 
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Rifte said:
The variable for me is how it is done.

I don't expect a mother to not feed her child because she can't find a quiet place to do it.

However to not cover up just because she doesn't have to is ludicrous.

One of my friend's wives refused to cover up when she breastfed their daughter in public....for me completely unnecessary.
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It depends on the person's confidence/self awareness. Some women won't sunbathe topless, some will wear next to nothing on the beach. Everyone has different levels of comfort in their own skin.
 
Freefaller said:
It depends on the person's confidence/self awareness. Some women won't sunbathe topless, some will wear next to nothing on the beach. Everyone has different levels of comfort in their own skin.
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If I was on a beach and a lady went topless, I would question why? Again completely unnecessary.
 
Rifte said:
The variable for me is how it is done.

I don't expect a mother to not feed her child because she can't find a quiet place to do it.

However to not cover up just because she doesn't have to is ludicrous.

One of my friend's wives refused to cover up when she breastfed their daughter in public....for me completely unnecessary.

There is nothing remotely sexually provocative about watching a woman breastfeed her child but I question the mentality of a woman who doesn't want to cover up and add decency to it.
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This.

All establishments in recent years have built massive great big mother and baby rooms, after being told that it was essential to provide a space for feeding and changing. Perfectly reasonable.

But some people always got to go further. So if they feel like breastfeeding in the middle of McDonalds, around people eating food (the example above), then they will.

The points is consideration. This woman was offended after being asked to cover up, in consideration of others. She said, in a nutshell, "You have to consider my feelings but don't expect me to consider your feelings."
 
azazl187 said:
Children of that age do not need to be fed on demand, maybe if the child was 3 months old then fine but even then there are plenty of places to feed a child like the toilet?! Obviously people will disagree with me here but a child of that age simply can chew on a toy if he is hungry or some juice if he is thirsty and if he doesnt want that he can just wait. Jesus what is this world coming to!?
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Toilet ... Seriously?
 
It really is a pickle.

Yes, there's nothing deliberately sexual about a woman feeding a child but then there's nothing sexually provocative about someone wandering around naked because it's comfortable or because they're in the middle of changing yet - it's just not done as it can and will offend others. People keep saying feeding a baby is natural well so is any other activity involving exposed bodies, clothes aren't natural!
To those saying they think people finding it sexual is weird...well sorry but sometimes things are unintentionally sexy. Have you never watched a woman bend over to pick something up and found yourself checking out her rear Or cleavage? Or if you're a gay man witnessed another bloke changing at the gym and thought 'phwoar'? The human mind does weird things!
 
FoxEye said:
This.

All establishments in recent years have built massive great big mother and baby rooms, after being told that it was essential to provide a space for feeding and changing. Perfectly reasonable.

But some people always got to go further. So if they feel like breastfeeding in the middle of McDonalds, around people eating food (the example above), then they will.

The points is consideration. This woman was offended after being asked to cover up, in consideration of others. She said, in a nutshell, "You have to consider my feelings but don't expect me to consider your feelings."
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I honestly never saw a baby feeding area outside of maternity ward until we went to Portugal. Certainly non in Oldham's shopping centre.

Ironically many places in Portugal have them, but Oct there no one cares about seeing it anyway.
 
Rifte said:
There is nothing remotely sexually provocative about watching a woman breastfeed her child but I question the mentality of a woman who doesn't want to cover up and add decency to it.
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If it's not sexually provocative, then why should women need to cover up?
 
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