Breastfeeding in swimming pool

My first thought was the chlorine being taken in by the baby, not prudishness.

FarNorth

My first thought was the chlorine being taken in by the baby, not prudishness.

Have you breastfed? When the baby is feeding, it's latched on so firmly and the suction is so strong, that absolutely nothing else is going in there but milk.

Not to mention that the baby was in the pool before it was feeding! It had no magical barrier between it and the (entirely harmless) chlorinated water then.

I prefer adult only swim sessions, so this situation won’t arise when I go swimming.

Does anyone remember that magic spray they’d give you to combat sore nipples? It worked like magic (oh, the relief!) but goodness knows what was in it. I never even thought to check.

I hope my lot didn’t ingest too much, but we seem to have got away with it.

It was called Rotersept Maggiemaybe Contained Chlorhexidine, an antiseptic. Great stuff to put in a baby's mouth.

Sounds really unhygienic and uncomfortable to me. No problem with breastfeeding in a public place but as others have said - why in a pool?

This is a truly miserable thread.
So much condemnation and mother-blaming.

The UK has almost the worst breastfeeding statistics in the world... the vitriol here makes this unsurprising.

NotSpaghetti
Fully agree

JuneRose

Sounds really unhygienic and uncomfortable to me. No problem with breastfeeding in a public place but as others have said - why in a pool?

Totally agree. Breastfeed at the side of the pool, in the spectator area, but not in the pool.

Not vitriol, just common sense.

As has been said though, if you’re already in a pool, getting out will mean you’ll both be shivering with cold. Even more problematic if you’ve other children with you who’ve to get out as well. To me the common sense thing to do with a hungry baby is just to get on and feed it, wherever you are.

Notspaghetti I don’t think posters have been ‘mother blaming’ as you state. From what I have read many posters have breast fed themselves and wholeheartedly support breast feeding in public as I do. However, the issue is whether it is responsible and sensible to feed a child in a swimming pool and I don’t believe it is. What about the rights of the child to be fed in a safe and hygienic place?
Also in our local swimming pool there has to be one adult for every two children so presumably, in the example given by the original poster the other children would not need to get out of the pool as there would be another adult present.

I don’t know if you read every post Gwyneth as I did but regularly people are saying the mother is attention seeking, flaunting, doing it to prove a point, to belittle bottle feeders and generally not doing this out of necessity and ease.

Personally, with the research evidence largely stacked up against taking young babies in the pool at all, I’d prefer no young ones in the pool!
However, even in the example you give, your “mum and two children” would have to get out and presumably get cold for what might be a two minute suckle.

I don’t want to argue about the subject really as I know there’s no point. I can’t stop what I feel though. This is a sad sad thread with a lot of hostility in my opinion.

I can't help feeling its a fuss about not much. Well said NotSpaghetti

I am all for mums breastfeeding if they wish

Stop right there.
Their baby, their business.
Not yours, not ours.

Would you take in sandwiches and drinks for your toddlers to eat by the side of the pool?

If the answer is yes, then obviously the Mother is doing nothing wrong in your eyes.

If the answer is no, I would feed them before we went or afterwards, then in your opinion the Mother seems to be either disorganised or as someone else said making a point.

Depends on your mindset I guess, but I wouldn’t think it a very healthy option to feed a young baby in the pool.

Oopsadaisy4 please direct your disorganised or making a point disparaging remark to the baby. I’m sure the mum did feed the baby before!

Sorry. I didn’t intend to post again. I will try to look away.

My babies were always very organised.
I don't think I took any of them swimming anyway, before about 15 months of age by which time they were weaned or only needing a couple of feeds a day.
The thought of all those other people's germs they could have swallowed when they were very tiny - no!

This was an old post (Jan20), only resurrected because of some advertising post which was reported and deleted. There was a lot of discussion at the time but I don’t think it all has to be rehashed!

Farmor15

This was an old post (Jan20), only resurrected because of some advertising post which was reported and deleted. There was a lot of discussion at the time but I don’t think it all has to be rehashed!

Absolutely!

I also reported it. This happens quite frequently when someone who wants to promote a product finds an old thread and latches on to it.

There's no harm in people talking about it if they want to.
I don't think I saw it when it was a new thread, or if I did I forgot about it.

Notspaghetti

The OP was about being allowed to breastfeed in swimming pools.

No actual mother was mentioned. My remarks were not Disparaging, if you reread my post you might see that.

Your post directly above mine refers to a loosely hypothetical situation which you use within your argument. I was simply following your comments. I was not referring to a real mother, as clearly you weren't.

I have read the whole thread, including your posts.

You should do whatever you want really. I for one would not do it because the water is not clean.

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