Yes, it is getting boring, but here we are. Because despite it being 2016, we still have a problem with breastfeeding in public.
This time it happened in London. 37-year-old Carla Francome was asked to cover up or move to a back room to breastfeed her six-month-old baby Archie.
“It was weird to have a man come up to you while breastfeeding. I was shocked to feel I was doing this in way which was like flashing,” she told the Islington Tribune.
“I was so mortified.”
The restaurant (La Porchetta) has since apologised and clarified that it is not their policy to ask breastfeeding mothers to cover up. But it is extremely disappointing that the incident took place at all.
Carla’s story is far too common. In fact, ask any woman who has breastfed in public and the majority will be able to name at least one occasion where they were made to feel uncomfortable.
37-year-old Carla Francome was asked to cover up at La Porchetta in Islington
My baby was only four weeks old the first time it happened to me. I was having lunch at a Sydney café with a friend who was on her lunch break. I was already feeling anxious about the logistics of breastfeeding in public without my trusty breastfeeding pillow.
But when my baby stared to grizzle in her pram I knew I had to get on with it. What I wasn’t prepared for was the comment from my friend.
“You’re not going to do that here are you?” she asked, looking horrified as I started to unbutton my top.
“Cat, people are eating!”
So why is breastfeeding in public still a big deal?
Australian Breastfeeding Association spokesperson Nicole Bridges thinks that it all boils down to the male pre-occupation with breasts.
“In our culture breasts are seen as sex objects. They’re used to sell things. A lot of men feel they have ownership over them,” she explains.
This idea is constantly being reinforced through porn culture and highly sexualised advertising.
In fact, the idea that breasts are for sex (and not breastfeeding) has become so normalised that comments on articles like this one will invariably include men and women agreeing that breast feeders should cover up.
Here are a few from Facebook:
“I don’t care if it’s legal. I would not want a ringside view! I have had three children and never did this so why do I have to be surrounded by it?”
“There’s a time and a place sweetheart and most likely you were putting people off their lattes.”
“Yes it’s natural, yes there’s nothing wrong with it, but it does make some people feel slightly uncomfortable, myself being [one].”
The big problem is that it is becoming a vicious circle. If more women were breastfeeding in public then it would be seen as normal. But the fear of a backlash puts a lot of women off breastfeeding in public altogether.
Lactation consultant Anna Quenault agrees. She tells me that as humans we learn a lot through observation.
“By seeing mothers feeding their babies we gain lots of subliminal lessons on how to breastfeed. If a new mum has never seen a baby breastfed before she has her own then she has a lot more to learn than if she has casually learnt through observation throughout her life,” she explains.
A more obvious, but often overlooked point is that hungry babies need to be fed, regardless of where the mother is.
“Generally that way everybody is more comfortable – mum, baby and everybody else who doesn’t have to hear the crying,” says Anna.
In Australia, the right to breastfeed in public is protected by law. But that isn’t enough.
We need to keep talking about breastfeeding in public until it’s no longer an issue.
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