Breastfeeding in public? Stop the discussions!

For me it was never a question of breastfeeding my child. I was immediately won over by all the advantages that breastfeeding brings to both the baby and the mother, so I simply didn’t think about it during the pregnancy. “It’ll work out,” I thought optimistically.

The reality after the birth looked a little different. Cracked nipples made me wince with pain every time I latched on, and I felt like I was doing nothing but breastfeeding, day in, day out.

Sometimes I was just exhausted, I dreaded every breastfeeding and I had back pain because I was so tense. And all the good advice along the lines of “It gets better, really, hold on!” bounced off me.

Initial difficulties vanished into thin air

But less than six weeks later, breastfeeding went smoothly and painlessly – I’m still so incredibly proud of both of us that we pulled it off and that we’re still breastfeeding. My little one is now 11.5 months old.

After these initial difficulties had evaporated, the confinement was over and we had been away for a longer time, I thought about how I could breastfeed my daughter in public without feeling uncomfortable.

At first I meticulously covered her little head with a muslin cloth so that nothing flashes out. I became more relaxed from milk meal to milk meal and simply left the towel off. I felt good.

“You can breastfeed over there!”

Until I was a guest at a birthday party. Mila was just 7 weeks old and she was crying, hungry. “You can breastfeed over there!” It was then said. But that didn’t sound like a nice tip, but rather a request.

“I can breastfeed here,” I replied. “Before everyone else here?” whispered the lady who had previously asked me to change places to breastfeed.

Intimidated, I grabbed my hungry daughter and breastfed her in secret, as advised. Another mom came to us with her crying baby of the same age and said, “Oh poor thing, that’s why I stopped breastfeeding!” while preparing a bottle.

Why wasn’t I quick-witted as usual?

I was speechless. Speechless that my baby has to eat in another room. And above all speechless because a mother does not want to breastfeed her child because it is “too complicated” for her in public.

I left that birthday pretty soon and was angry with myself. Why had I acted like this? Why was I speechless and not quick-witted as usual? Finally, as a breastfeeding mother, I am allowed to speak up when someone sends me away to feed my child.

Lots of bad experiences

In the course of my breastfeeding period, I often heard that other breastfeeding mothers unfortunately also had to have bad experiences. I heard moms should leave the cafe because the owner doesn’t tolerate breastfeeding in his shop.

Others said they were told to breastfeed their child in the toilet. What kind of society do we live in if babies are supposed to eat on the toilet? Does it really have to be that a woman decides against breastfeeding because of social constraints? Or that breastfeeding mothers no longer dare to leave the house because they are afraid to breastfeed outside?

Rather, breastfeeding mothers should be empowered because they have made the decision to provide their children with the healthiest form of nutrition. And precisely because as a mother you sometimes have to fight a lot at the beginning until breastfeeding works without any problems, it is simply commendable. The extent to which breastfeeding is “appropriate” in public should not be up for debate – because breastfeeding is the most natural thing in the world!