Even today, there is a stigma attached to a woman breastfeeding her baby in public. Breastfeeding mothers are often asked to cover up or leave, or at the least met with uncomfortable glances from strangers.
In a similar incident, one guy recently took to Reddit to reveal how he asked a breastfeeding mother to move to another table at a cafe and when she said she couldn’t, he left his table.
He says that the woman sits across his table with her baby as the cafe was packed.
“Today a woman came inside with a baby and it was so busy that it looked like there was only like 2 open seats available, 1 of which happened to be the sit across from my small table. This woman asked if she can sit at the table. The other table was under the air conditioner so understandable. I said yes.”
Later, the baby starts crying and the mother begins to breastfeed, making the guy uncomfortable. He goes on to ask her if she can sit at another table.
“So a little bit goes by and her baby starts crying, so she takes a breast out and starts breastfeeding. Obviously, I’m just avoiding all eye contact but it got so uncomfortable that I ended up asking if she might be able to see if she can sit at the other table.”
As the baby was already feeding, the woman apologized and said that she couldn’t move. So the guy gulped his coffee and left. However, a few people looked at him with disappointment.
He asked people online if he was an a**hole for asking the woman to breastfeed somewhere else. Have a look at his full post here:
AITA for asking a women to breastfeed somewhere else? from AmItheAsshole
Several people condemned him for his actions. They said that if he was uncomfortable, he should have sat somewhere else instead of asking the woman to do so.
Some also pointed out that he should have just gone about his own business instead of looking.
A few others highlighted that a baby needs to eat and that the mother was just providing for its needs.
Some others pointed out the need to normalise breastfeeding in public.
On the other hand, a few people said that if the woman needed to breastfeed, she should have asked for his permission as she was sitting at his table.
Breastfeeding in public shouldn’t have to be a hard thing for a woman to do. It is high time people accept it as a natural act and don’t give breastfeeding mothers a hard time. Don’t you think?