Should This Mother Have Been Allowed To Breast Feed Her Child In A Swimming Pool?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2392654/No-petting-bombing--breastfeeding-New-mother-ordered-stop-feeding-son-waist-deep-swimming-pool.html

[friedgreentomato]

yes

[ummmm]

Babies tend not to wait patiently to be fed.

[mikey4444]

I think it might have been better for her and the baby to have got out of the pool first.

[Octavius]

Why would you stay in the swimming pool 'waist deep' to do it though, surely getting out and sitting by the poolside would have been better, especially given the crud that floats around municipal pools.

[friedgreentomato]

In an ideal world mikey but babies can latch on themselves and this may have happened in this instance!

[pixie373]

Yes. She should be allowed to. The sooner we stop thinking of breasts as belonging on page 3, and remembering they are for mothers and babies, the better.

[Peter Pedant]

Yes or No we know the answer to this

It is lawful to breast feed in public
It is not lawful to ask someone breast feeding to do it in the nearest drug infested bog.

there is a post about a train conductor doing the wrong thing
a week or so ago

AOG at your age you should be upholding the law (even the ones you dont like - like compulsory school lesbianisn on thursday afternoons) and not inviting/encouraging them to break it.

[ummmm]

I agree, Pixie.

[EcclesCake]

Yes.

Given how warm baby pools are and typically the air temp is not so comfortable I would have thought it the perfect place.

[friedgreentomato]

Isnt it strange that a baby latched on a breast makes some people uncomfortable, but naked breast in a newspaper or on a stage etc are ok?

[hc4361]

I'm all for breast feeding in public - anywhere a mother would bottle feed a baby.
There is something not quite right about feeding a baby in a public pool.

[mikey4444]

Its got absolutely nothing to do with naked breasts. Octavius has made a good point here, that I hadn't considered. I too am not sure how hygienic swimming pool water is to both mother and baby. As a boy I used to on occasions pee when in swimming pools. That was 50 years ago but I don't suppose small boys have changed that much over the years !

[hc4361]

And of course, what do babies do after a good feed? Sick up a little bit, piddle and poo.

[Peter Pedant]

No mIkey I was thinking of that

They have pee-sensitive dye now

Breast milk is pretty well sterile - a bit like pee

and I would wonder about the child getting a mouth full of goo when he was expecting milk......

[ummmm]

Babies can sick up from one feed to the next. I assume he was wearing a swimming nappy.

[pixie373]

Yes, I'm sure he's be wearing a swimming nappy and the risk of him swallowing swimming pool water would surely be higher while playing in the pool, than by being fed above it.

[Sparkles62]

No, I'm sure she could have got out and fed the baby sat at the side of the pool.
I breastfed all mine, all over the place, but sometimes you just need to use your nouse.

[joko]

well this incident is obviously wrong, and of course i support breastfeeding anywhere - but actually she probably should have got out - breastfeeding means milk, and baby sick - possibly in the water.
they have a duty to keep the water clear.

if this was their reasoning then i'd agree.

[China Doll]

No. You wouldn't bottle feed in the pool so why would you breast feed. It's nothing to do with whether it makes people uncomfortable, it just seems like basic common sense to get out of the pool first.