Breastfeeding in Public

As you have surely heard a million times by now, breastfeeding is the most natural process in the world, and it truly is. So why should there be anything shameful about it, even when you are surrounded by strangers in a public place?

The first attempts at breastfeeding outside the house are never easy, or pleasant. They weren’t for me either. At first, honestly, I was embarrassed “to strip off in front of everyone”, but my baby’s needs soon pushed their way up the list of priorities, far above my shame.

Of course it’s not the nicest feeling when you know you have to take out your breast in public and bare it, even for a second, because until yesterday (before the baby) your breasts were (or at least were supposed to be) a closely guarded erotic part of the female body, hidden from everyone’s eyes.

But when you become a mother, at least while you are breastfeeding, that same part of the body takes on a completely new and more important purpose: keeping your little angel alive and meeting one of its most important needs.

It doesn’t matter where you are, what matters is that the baby is fed and content.

Besides, breastfeeding in public doesn’t have to mean baring any part of your body completely. In fact, there are many ways to breastfeed so that hardly anyone notices, and you will feel much more comfortable if, for example, you keep a cotton muslin, a scarf around your neck or something similar in your nappy bag. It makes a perfect screen. By covering the area from your shoulder over your breast and the baby, you not only hide everything, you also let your baby have lunch in peace, undisturbed by what’s going on around.

The most important thing is to find somewhere reasonably comfortable to sit, and the magic can begin.

I don’t know what it’s like in the Balkans, but in Germany there are rooms all over town (in shopping centres, restaurants, shops and even government offices) meant specifically for changing nappies and breastfeeding, which makes things even easier.

People here have understood that caring for children is very important, and they are making more and more effort to make it easier for parents. One of the ways they do this is with exactly these rooms, fully adapted to parents and children. At worst you will find an ordinary chair and a basic changing table, at best a leather armchair, everything you need for changing (wipes, nappies, cream and hand sanitiser), and even a microwave for mums who feed their little ones formula from a bottle or who have already moved on to purées.

Still, I breastfed in cafés and in parks and wherever I happened to be at the time.

And believe me, I wasn’t the only one.

What Will People Say?

I know the situation in the Balkans is surely different, but don’t people there frown at a thousand things others do, wear or how they behave anyway (in other words, people will always find something to talk about and judge you for)? But breastfeeding is certainly nothing to hold back from, because, I repeat, this isn’t some whim, it’s a need of the beings who matter most to us.

On the other hand, people are far more likely to turn around and stare if your child is crying uncontrollably and non-stop, to see what’s wrong with you, that is, why on earth you don’t just meet your child’s need, whatever it may be, than they are to frown at the fact that you are breastfeeding in public.

And somehow I don’t think any adult feels ashamed when they eat something in public, so why should mothers feel ashamed when they feed their children anywhere outside the house? If a baby is hungry, it has to eat, just like each of us.

So, mums, be brave!

It is healthier for both you and your baby to keep up constant contact through breastfeeding, even in less than ideal conditions, than to make life difficult for yourself with pumping and all sorts of other complications just because someone might give you a funny look.

After all, if more and more mothers start breastfeeding in public, it will no longer be an anomaly, but the norm.

My dear mums, for the good of our children and of future mothers, let’s fight for our right to feed and our children’s right to eat whenever they need to!

Warmly,

S-Mama