I’m sorry – WHAT?
In this day and age, we all know that boobs are designed to feed babies. No, really –that is literally the only reason we have them in the first place.
However, it would seem not everyone is comfortable with the notion of babies being fed the way nature designed it.
We have all heard stories of women getting strange looks or being harassed by strangers when breastfeeding out in public parks or coffee shops, however, you don’t really expect this to happen when going to visit your own family.
Which is exactly what happened when this mum went to visit her own mother with her two older children and newborn baby girl in tow.
Anonymously taking to popular Facebook group Breastfeeding Mama Talk this mum shared her story as ‘”proof that even moms who have absolutely no boob exposed get harassed.”
Captioning a picture of herself feeding her baby, she writes:
“Today, I took my 3 kids over to my mom’s house to visit,” the mum-of-three shared.
“My youngest daughter is 3 weeks old and exclusively breastfed. She got hungry while we were having lunch so I took her into the living room, got her to latch and sat back down at the table to finish my meal while it was still warm. My mom didn’t say anything at first, but when my stepdad came in from mowing the lawn, she threw me a dirty look and asked me to get my blanket and cover her.”
She goes onto explain that she “politely declined” to cover up.
“She told me it was her house and she wanted me to cover up,” the mum shared.
“I told her my daughter gets sweaty and uncomfortable under the blanket, and if it was that much of an issue that I wasn’t going to do that to her, we would leave, and she said, ‘Fine, leave.’ So I started to get my kids ready to go, and she said, ‘You’re really going to leave because you’re in MY house, and I want you to cover up? I don’t care how you nurse in your own home, but at my house, you need to cover up. No one wants to see that.'”
The nursing mum stuck to her guns and said “yes,” she would indeed be leaving.
“She made me look like the bad guy to my older two children by telling them I was leaving, because I was mad at her and she was sorry they couldn’t stay to watch the end of the movie she just put on for them,” the mum of three explained to Breastfeeding Mama Talk.
“Completely unacceptable”
Needless to say, other mums were quick to rally around and offer their support to the mother, who was clearly shocked at how her own mother had behaved.
“It’s one thing for her to ask to cover up (which was uncalled for and rude) but to be so immature to make slide remarks to the kids, is completely unacceptable,” one commenter noted.
“I wouldn’t return until she apologized.”
Another mum wrote:
“I’m so sorry that you had to deal with that from your very own mother! That’s so sad! Good for you for standing your ground and your kids will understand one day!”
However, there was one of two readers who, surprisingly, sided with the grandmother on this one:
The mother is not in the wrong,” one mom wrote. “I did not cover in public … BUT if I was in someone’s private home where I was invited I would at least go to another room if asked. Obviously, there’s an issue with the stepdad, this is their home and who are you to do something to make someone uncomfortable in THEIR OWN HOME. It doesn’t matter what it is. It is their home. Period.”
What do YOU think? Would YOU cover up when feeding in someone else’s home? What would you do if you were asked to?
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