parents

Why are mothers still being shamed for breastfeeding their babies in public?

 

Last weekend, mother of two Lauren Davidson was going about her day, minding her own business.

She smashed out her first gym session since giving birth to her daughter, Ava, six weeks earlier and then planned on hitting the supermarket with her husband before heading home.

Then, the inconvenient problem of needing to feed reared its head.

She decided to breastfeed her baby in the comfort and privacy of her air-conditioned car “instead of hooning around Woolies with a baby hanging off a tit”, while her husband and son did the shopping.

Trying to reveal the minimum amount of flesh possible, Lauren fed baby Ava in a carpark in the New South Wales coastal town of Tuncurry.

But as she provided the nourishment her baby needed, her peace was disrupted by a man – a complete stranger – who walked past her window and said “disgusting”.

The insult prompted Lauren, who says she is not one to normally post pictures of herself nursing, to share the offensive incident on Facebook with a picture of what she looked like at the time.

The full image shared by Lauren on Facebook.

Her post has been shared more than 2,500 times.

“Sorry Sir that you can see 3cms of bosom flesh, But i can’t cover my Gal because she is SIX WEEKS OLD!! and we are both still learning how to do this!! She thrusts, She kicks, She pulls away, She headbutts me, She gets frustrated and screams, She waits until the let-down reflex hits to then pull away and grin at me…….

All while we are both getting Milk everywhere & I’m trying to keep her satisfied, so covering my baby is really not an option……and it’s really not my problem that these reasons are not valid to you, (not so) kind Sir.

Its not that easy to just “Cover Up” and those who feel its disgusting are the ones who should be shamed, NOT a tired, emotional, only-just-holding-it-together-Mother who just wants to give a baby some lunch.”

Amen to that.

Good on your Lauren.