They still don't get it

I will send you some Jingl just don't get caught!

Maybe she wasn't doing it discreetly? Teenage lads in particular get quite embarrassed at the sight of women breastfeeding. Of my friends most were discreet when feeding but some just whopped it out anywhere.

Not often a lot of teenage lads in Claridges! Saw a pic of the girl in question in tonight's Evening Standard- entirely discreet.
It is nonsense, demeaning, discriminatory, and totally contravenes the ultimate hospitality sector mantra that "the customer is always right".

Rosesared

I would also prefer to be in a cafe noisy or not than stuck in a side room.

If I had been given the order to cover up by a waiter I would most certainly have then made a point about it, instead of just quietly getting on with it.

It is what breasts are for and it is illegal to discriminate. Good for those young women who over the years have staged "feed ins" in places where someone has been told to stop breast feeding.

I find it amazing that there are women who feel this woman behaved inappropriately.

From what I briefly saw on the TV about this it would seem that this mother was not "making a point" because she said she was extremely humiliated by the incident. I would have thought in this day and age nobody would imagine that breastfeeding a baby would give rise to this sort of intervention.

Mothers are always being urged to breastfeed but if it is treated as something "not quite nice", is it surprising that some women are reluctant to do so. I heard some women talking like this when I was in hospital - some of them expressing disgust at the thought of themselves, or anyone else, breastfeeding. I even heard one woman saying it was "unnatural"!

I have absolutely no problem with women feeding their babies in public places and did it myself. However, I really approve of the parent and baby room we have in our local shopping mall. There are comfy chairs, plus two curtained cubicles, also with comfy chairs, for those who prefer privacy. There is an area for changing nappies and a microwave for heating bottles or baby tins. There is also an enclosed area with a television for older children waiting for mum or dad to finish, plus, of course, loos. The whole space is clean, airy, discreet and accessible for anyone with babies who needs it while shopping.

Perhaps they would rather she had worn one of these horrendous things because they are so discreet.

a tad of an 'overreaction' both here and in the news
she is an actor's wife - and she was not 'asked to leave' which would have been illegal.
there are really far more important issues to deal with than this.
I support breastfeeding but in crowded public places as others have said - a little bit of discretion would have been advisable (most people would not have been aware)
OK - flame away as I dare to go against the flow.

Aren't they ghastly!! On a par with Burkinis. I note that some are "unused, wrapped and with labels" unwanted too methinks!

Ignorance and prejudice are always things which make me but I had expected a more enlightened attitude both in a hotel which caters for the customer's every whim and frankly on a site such as Gransnet where we are all parents and have children who feed/fed our dear grandchildren. How would you have felt if it were your own DD?

38 years ago I was made to feel embarrassed when DD needed feeding in an upmarket West End department store tearoom(absolutely Horrid place) I retreated to the "Ladies'Powder Room" (which was actually quite civilised with a selection of perfume atomisers for you to use ) but my cheeks were burning and I felt I had committed some dreadful faux pas like eating my patisserie with the wrong fork!! needless to say she didn't feed well and screamed the place down.

She was being discreet if you look at the picture of her without the napkin. No boob showing at all, nor even any "chest". People on TV who aren't feeding babies, and people out in the street, even, dare I say it, people having tea at Claridge's show more "chest", and nobody bats an eyelid. But suckling mothers are taboo. It's ridiculous.

I agree there are "more important issues" mollie 65 but breastfeeding in Claridges is what this thread is about isn't it. ? And what does being "an actor's wife" have to do with anything? We must have moved on in 2014 from defining women by their husband's occupation?

Well, of course there are more important issues! I agree with soutra.

But, looking at the others recent threads, we could be discussing how many Christmas trees we have on our houses, or the sell by date on mince pies, or knitting a bauble or something. Someone will always have something to say about each topic, if they are interested in it. And that is what is happening here. That's all. Some comments are articulate and lucid, some are funny, some are incoherent, that is how we are.

baubles - my DD made and used one of those breastfeeding aprons when she breastfed DGS in public in China. This was not because she was embarrassed but it prevented other people getting very close. They seemed so fascinated by it (and do love babies) they tried to get a very good view and didn't seem to have any concept of 'personal space'.

I may be wrong but is this all about it being Claridges or would the same be said if it had happened in a 'greasy spoon' cafe ? What is the difference ?

I admit to feeling some discomfort on seeing a baby being breastfed when I am eating my lunch, but I acknowledge that is something to do with me and I have to get over it, or at least put up with it.

As I have already said, it's the blatant hypocrisy in this case that really gets my goat. Kerching! v a present day baby.

this one (from absent's link) is quite a nice idea. Looks cuddly for baby too.

I can understand why your daughter would want to keep people at a comfortable distance in the circumstances tiggy.

It would be sad if they became common in the UK where we are more aware of the concept of personal space. I was quite shocked when I saw a photo of a friend in America cloaked in one in order to feed her baby. She in turn had been upset by the reaction of people when she had fed her infant in public without a cover up. She decided it was easier to comply with the social norms.

Another middle class breast feeding heroine/martyr.

Predictable response.

Yawn!

Incidentally, pic in media was a restruction so we don't know how discrete she was originally.

This was an annual treat for her family. Surprised they did not know about the rule. Suspect a point was being made.

I hope neither the subject nor the picture was discrete

The more women get on and feed in public, the less the teenage boys will be embarrassed. Both I and all my DDs have fed in public, discreetly and with no fuss or comeback. Silly Claridges.

Sorry Soutra of course discreet

I don't get it, half the population has breasts (and some of the other half !).

What is more natural that feeding a baby. Someone mentioned teenage boys, well consider what they are probably looking at on line (I would have if there was an online when I was a teenager) they should be able to cope easily enough, and if they can't, the sooner they get over it the better.

I breastfed my new baby in Harrods 30 years ago and they didn't turn a hair. It never entered my head that anyone would. I had been given money at her birth and wanted to buy her a beautiful christening gown and other bits and pieces, and took my sister-in-law. She woke as I was having lunch and I fed her, I didn't want my lunch to get cold.

I breastfed her in pubs, restaurants, National Trust cafes and no-one ever turned a hair. The only person who upset me was an older sister-in-law who suggested that I go upstairs. I had no idea what she was talking about. My mother didn't warn me that I might meet with prejudice, I always assumed that everyone just got on with it, so I did. I always wore fairly concealing clothing but that was more to do with the fact that she was born in January!

I was stuck on a train once with DD in the days of compartments, and she started crying to be fed. I said to the other passengers (all strangers) that I was sorry if they minded, but that I was going to feed her, and they all said that that was fine with them and they didn't want the poor wee soul to go hungry. The men present all turned away politely as I fixed her on, and then when she disappeared under my jumper, we all started talking again as before. Apart from anything else, it saved everyone from having to put up with a howling baby.

Saw a little hat on twitter knitted to look like a breast in cream and pink. The baby was wearing it whilst being breast fed. There was a suitable comment accompanying it but I can't remember what it was! But I thought it rather amusing. I was going to say tongue in cheek but perhaps that should be nipple.......

There is a half page report in today's Daily Mail, complete with pics of and interview with the woman concerned. She may have felt humiliated but she is beaming happily away in the pics.

I wonder if she was paid for her story.