Public breastfeeding

harrigran Don't be touchy.

Was that in this country, or France?

They are a bit different to us, the French!

There you are harrigran. I'll get all the brickbats now.

Although I totally agree that women should think nothing of breastfeeding in public i think that wisewoman has a point. What is wrong with a little bit of discretion? Everyone should be considerate to others in all aspects of life and that includes breastfeeding, it shouldn't be done in a way to embarrass others.

I cannot understand those who choose to text, ipod or whatever when they are feeding their babies, they are missing out on so much tenderness from their infant, regardless of what the infant is missing!

Yesterday on the bus into Worcester we watched a mum with a 4 year old and one in the buggy and at no point did she interact with either of them. She was texting and then listening to her iPod. The 4 year old was just talking to himself all the way. Such a shame.

I used to find when discreetly breast feeding in public - under a poncho, it was the 1970s - I was often approached by elderly women who reminisced about their experience of life, the universe and babies. Very good experiences.

Greatnan - so where do you draw the line between acceptable and unacceptable - whose good taste do we use as a guide?

Harrigran - approaching our French village not so long ago there was the sight of a huge bare behind, skirts hitched up, in order to use the gutters as a toilet - now she had every right but was that offensive, embarrassing? Should we just have averted our eyes? I would hope that I never do anything that would mean people around me would have to 'avert their eyes' to save my dignity and in the same way, I do not want to have to do so on behalf of someone else.

Petallus - quite right.

that's the sort of thing that bothers me alison not breastfeeding.

nanban
In the past the toilets were multiseaters, the Romans had marble ones, there's a lovely example just off the forum at Pompeii. Farms had wooden multiholers in this country until recently.
I suspect it was the Victorians who introduced all this modesty with natural bodily functions.
Don't you have pissoirs in your village?(not sure of spelling)

In NZ there was something called the Plunkett Society (still is) started to promote maternal and child health. They raised money for women's toilet facilities where they could also take care of their babies in the early days. Plunkett nurses advised on feeding etc
There are still some great heritage toilets dating from this era! They still in NZ have fantastic public loos compared to us. Many more, and rarely smelly. I have come across them in the middle of nowhere. If near beaches they have changing rooms with benches and, often, a shower. (yes they have those in OZ too)
Plunkett is still going spanning the territory occupied by NCT, mums and babies groups, and health visitors.

Nanban I don't think using the gutter as a toilet and displaying a bare behind, whether huge or standard, is the same thing as breastfeeding in public. First, I'm not sure that the woman in question did have the right but am no expert on French law. I amsure that it is unpleasant, offensive and unhygienic. Breastfeeding can be managed discreetly so that it is virtually unnoticeable. Even I, who had breasts like a garden sprinkler and could probably have killed a fly at 40 paces if only I could have aimed accurately, managed not to bother other people. Waving naked breasts around in public – either because of militant activisim re breastfeeding or to get an even sun tan – is uncalled for and, I suggest, discourteous.

jeni I remember being quite shocked as a teenager at the IoW festival when I encountered a young couple romantically holding hands while balancing over what can only be called a latrine. (No Portaloos then.)n

"to use the gutters as a toilet - now she had every right"

Really?!!!!! They allow you to bare your bottom in France and pee (assuming that's all you meant ) in the gutter. By the public roadside?!

Oh, weren't they awful, absent?
I was terrified I'd slip and actually fall in....

It was France jingle but I don't think she was of French descent. She was opposite a road junction so it was the first thing we saw as we turned. I have seen men peeing by the roadside but in all the years I have travelled I have never seen a woman urinate in the street.

Me neither, although I am known for popping behind a bush on my long country walks !

The men on yachts say they're going to inspect the moorings, when caught short!

I've seen women breastfeeding in public on only a few occasions; did I just imagine the smug look on their faces?

Well I certainly didn't feel smug when I fed mine in public. What a strange way to feel when doing something so natural. Maybe most of us did it so discreetly that no one noticed?

Perhaps it was just happy contentment?

I'm currently reading Mother's Milk by Edward St Aubyn. Just came across this apt bit, conversation between Mary and her mother Kettle:

'How was your flight?' asked Mary politely.

'Ghastly' said Kettle. 'There was an awful woman next to me on the plane who was terribly proud of her breasts, and kept sticking them in her child's face.'

It's called breast-feeding Mummy' said Mary.

'Thank you darling' said Kettle. 'I know it's all the rage now, but when I was having children the talk was of getting one's figure back. A clever woman was the one who went to a party looking as if she'd never been pregnant, not the one with her breasts hanging out, at least not for breast-feeding.'

I'm reading all the Patrick Melrose novels. Fantastic!

That is funny, petallus!

Agreed!

If you haven't seen a coach load of French men all standing by the verge relieving themselves you haven't lived! Some older French women use what is known as 'entre deux portes' - they open both car doors on the side away from the road and squat between. There are very few public toilets in rural France - I have been told frequently that it is quite acceptable to use those in a bar or restaurant but I would only do it in extremis. I am adept at finding private places on my walks but trousers are more difficult than skirts.
I was surprised to find on a Swiss motorway a Turkish (squat) toilet. They usually are lacking a hook for your handbag, so you end up with it round your neck, trying to keep your trouser bottoms from getting wet and then finding there is no handgrip to haul yourself up. I once pulled the downpipe away from the wall in my efforts to rise.

One of my French friends said she found the British very up-tight about bodily functions but very open about sex - and it was the opposite in France.

I find it hard to believe that anybody can equate defecating in public with breast feeding.

Oh, I did the car doors things once. Was deep in the countryside, and I was desperate! It only works if there is a bit of a low bank on the roadside, otherwise you get a gap!

It's the getting up again that's hard.

Oh yes. You have the same trouble Greatnan.