From the 18th June till the 27th June is National Breastfeeding Week. It is just over a week and is to raise more awareness about breastfeeding.
I’ve been lucky as I have received no negative comments whilst breastfeeding in public however I know many women every single day do. I belong to a few breastfeeding groups on Facebook and the kind of abuse some women receive is totally unacceptable.
I have only had one situation when somebody was extremely negative and it didn’t upset me but it did make me extremely angry once I had time to reflect. The comments on that occasion included “Oh you feed from those taps?”, “How do you expect Lola to ever drink from a bottle?”, “You will never be able to leave her with anybody”,”It’s so disgusting it makes me shudder”, “She will sleep a lot better if she wasn’t fed like that. The person then turned away from me whilst I fed Lola and made a lot more comments on many other things to do with Lola.
Following on from those comments I actually posted the whole conversation on a private Facebook group and received many responses;
“Oh you feed from those taps” – If only they did have an on/off switch like a tap then there wouldn’t be any leaking which would save a fortune in breastpads!
“How do you expect Lola to ever drink from a bottle” Why does Lola need to drink from a bottle? She now actually has a Munchkin 360 cup that she holds really well and puts to her mouth however I haven’t actually expressed any milk for her to have in it but it is training her for when she has water whilst weaning.
“You will never be able to leave her with anybody” I don’t actually want to leave Lola at the moment! She’s my daughter I did not have a baby just so I could leave her with other people!
“She will sleep a lot better if she wasn’t fed like that” Lola actually sleeps really well! Only a few days before these comments were made Lola had slept through the night! She doesn’t sleep through the night every night but actually when she does wake up she doesn’t cry at all and usually I start feeding her whilst she is stirring so she doesn’t wake up completely.
Nobody should ever be made to feel guilty in which ever way they decide to feed their baby. Or be made to feel like they can not feed their baby wherever and whenever is needed.
Naomi xx
Good for you Naomi, you are doing the best for Lola. I breast fed both my girls and some people do make unnecassary hurtful comments when mothers are doing the most natural, healthy thing for their babies x
Thank you! I so know it’s the right thing for Lola and I love it! Wouldn’t change it for the world. It is so sad the amount of abuse women get for doing it. It’s especially sad as most other countries it is normal to see but here it isn’t and you have to defend yourself all the time xx
My word … no words … okay, maybe some! Why would anyone open their mouth and let out such a torrent of ignorant comments. They don’t walk in your shoes and don’t know your experience, how could they possibly know what breastfeeding does or doesn’t do for you and Lola. And can’t they see how much more disgusting their uncalled-for one-way chatter is. What a shame really … whatever happened to not looking. I could go on and on about this; so annoying.
I’m just glad your experience of people’s reactions have been mostly positive … thoughtful reflection on some of their silly comments.