Surely in the year 2009 breastfeeding in public should be the accepted norm? You would think so, but apparently not. We are way behind our European counterparts in both breastfeeding rates and attitudes towards breastfeeding. A recent survey conducted by Mother & Baby magazine indicated that although mums and mums to be are aware of the benefits of breastfeeding 65% of those surveyed, felt too self conscious to even consider breastfeeding.
Why are they self conscious about breastfeeding? Lots of new mothers are self conscious, it’s completely understandable. Some lose this and develop confidence but others don’t. It’s partly to do with society and our attitudes towards breastfeeding. Yes, you do attract attention when you are breastfeeding in public. Not all of it is negative but sometimes you just want to feed your baby without anyone looking at you, even if they are smiling or telling you it’s a wonderful thing that you are doing! Some places are more breastfeeding friendly than others but if you want to go about your normal life, the likelihood is you are not going to spend all of your time in the few places that are breastfeeding friendly.
The research also showed that 54% had been asked to leave a café for breastfeeding their babies. (Mother & Baby research, 2009) Some mothers spoke about being asked to feed their babies in the toilet or out of view. Is the answer to provide designated feeding rooms or areas or should we be looking to move to a culture that accepts a mother breastfeeding her hungry baby, wherever she is? Often designated feeding rooms are not the ideal space to spend half an hour feeding your baby as they generally double up as baby changing rooms and aren’t particularly pleasant. The shift in culture requires bigger and longer term changes to be made. Interestingly Scottish mums felt more confident breastfeeding in public, with 60% not caring who saw them. This is an indication than the rest of the UK should follow Scottish the laws protecting the rights of breastfeeding mothers.
Another key point was that two thirds of mothers surveyed called for celebrities to breastfeed in public to encourage acceptance. The power of celebrity is huge in modern society and although we hear that celebrities breastfeed it is rare that we see it. When Angelina Jolie was pictured breastfeeding on the front cover of W magazine there was a huge amount of media interest. However, if celebrities were regularly pictured feeding their babies maybe there wouldn’t have been so much interest. Charlotte Church and Jenny Frost are celebrities who have both fronted breastfeeding campaigns but a quick Google search found that one of the only public breastfeeders in the UK to be pictured was Billie Piper.
In order to break the cycle we need to see more mums breastfeeding in public until it does becomes normal. However, society needs to support breastfeeding mums in order for this to happen. It’s not going to be an overnight change by any means but I hope that when our children have babies of their own breastfeeding is the accepted norm wherever they are.
Keira O’Mara is a mum of one and creator of Mamascarf, a breastfeeding scarf allowing mums to breastfeed comfortably and discreetly in public whilst providing essential support without the need for a cushion. www.mamascarf.co.uk
Breastfeeding in public
