Should breastfeeding mothers be told to sit in a corner or to cover up when in public?

Everyone wants to see your boobs until you're using them for their actual purpose - feeding a baby! What a load of crap - I'd way rather see a baby being breastfed than screaming and cranky because it's hungry.

by lizzi

This old thing again! It seems mad to me that we need to keep having this argument in 2014. We have laws protecting breastfeeding mothers against discrimination for a reason. It's bizarre and hypocritcial to complain about women's breasts being visible a little bit while being used to feed a baby when there are boobs everywhere being used to promote every product under the sun.

My kids are passed the stage where I need to feed them when we're out but when they were little I fed them whenever and wherever I needed to because babies have a right to eat when they're hungry like everybody else does.

by Jennifer Muirhead

Batman says NO!!!! Batman says boobies are for babies.

by meggf

I love Batman :D

Yeah but I believe that Robin doesn't back Batman up.

I'm not a mum but I find it so rude when you hear people whispering about seeing a new mum breastfeeding.
It is completely natural so I don't know what the complaint is about.

by Maria

who would be "whispering" about it ?

Not this old 'walnut again' .
It's o.k. to feed a baby when they need it, even in public.

by jonaja

I didn't encounter any problems breastfeeding in public, in fact quite the opposite, I used to find people watching with smiles of approval and offers of help - drinks, cushions etc. But that was in Brussels and Germany, not the UK and attitudes in those countries seem to be very different to England. Personally I think if you find the sight of a breastfeeding mother offensive, just don't look!

by VerityG

Seems to me that the dim witted politician should "sit in the corner".

by Vee

Funnily enough, there is an internet campaign set up to tell him exactly that!

I thought there might be, though I would really like to tell him in person. ;)

It is quite legal to breastfeed in public. I wouldn't personally because I don't like drawing attention to myself. I would in a rest room or if there was an angle to face that didn't have through traffic. But I would have the baby well fed before going on an outing so to avoid needing to feed in public. I know that new mothers probably don't prefer to feed in public and that they haven't got the time to write letters or organise a petition lobbying for clean feeding rooms, particularly in shopping malls. Feeding rooms say spaced at every kilometer would be ideal. However, thank goodness mothers have the legal right to breast feed in public. Now we just have to get permission for all those women who are NOT breastfeeding but want to go bare breasted in public, like on a stinking hot summer day in the city when the perspiration is just running off you. People need to be taught that breasts are working units and though some may be past their use by date, it is still a legal right that should be applicable to all. Like particularly on the beach for goodness sake.

by fran.

no

by bellabirth

I think one should be discreet when breast feeding in public. I often see mothers covering the exposed breast and have no problem with this.

by helga

Breastfeeding is a very private act at it shouldn't be displayed in public. It is like a sacred act. Some mothers are ignorant and obviously do like to reject the already established social norms and do display their breast openly in public. For example I was in a public library and did witness a mother exposing her breast to feed her baby in the section where at least 10 men and women were reading the newspapers (I did feel uncomfortable sighting at her breasts and I am sure that the other people present at the library did feel the same. It is not that mothers are breastfeeding the babies that people are objecting to but the the exposure of the breasts in public. Mothers must understand that the exposure of their breast in public is not the accepted social norm (ditto). Thus we must obey the social norms of behavior in our (civilised) society.

by daphn