Breastfeeding mamas should never feel judged for nursing in public — there is nothing gross, weird, or sexual about feeding your little one. And if there's anyone who is supposed to get it and have your back, you'd think it would be fellow parents. But one dad feels strongly that there's a time and a place for everything — and the time for breastfeeding was not at his kid's third birthday party. The dad complained that wife's friend, who started feeding at a table during the party — in front of a group of kids, was acting completely inappropriately. But others are slamming dad as the one who should be embarrassed for his behavior.
As the dad tells it, things got incredibly uncomfortable for him at his child's recent birthday party.
In a post on Reddit, the man wrote that because his wife's colleague had a 2-year-old, they thought to invite her to their 3-year-old's birthday party. The party had about 20 kids in attendance and their ages ranged from two to 15, which is why when the colleague started to breastfeed at the table, he was totally mortified.
"Colleague's baby apparently got hungry, colleague straight up started to breastfeed him on the dining table, not even a feet away from a few teenagers," he complained. He said that he then asked the woman to try and feed someone else "since I felt it was inappropriate because of the age demographic of the party." But the woman was offended and ignored his request.
"She just kept glaring at me and fed the baby to her (expletive's) content while the teenagers right besides her sat in awkward silence," he wrote. And worse, she later complained to his wife about what he said to her.
Some people online thought that this dad needed to grow the heck up.
"Why is it okay in public but not okay there?" one person wrote in the comments. "At the end of the day, kids should learn that it’s totally natural and normal."
And someone else agreed. "Your attitude is exactly the reason women have such a hard time breastfeeding," the person wrote. "If everyone in this country could drop their puritan BS for once, then teenagers would stop being shocked by a breast performing its god-given function."
"The fact that a few teenagers might freak out a bit around a boob is normal," another person commented. "But you should know better. She can breastfeed wherever she wants."
But other people thought the dad had every right to tell his guest that she was being inappropriate.
"Breastfeeding is fine," one person commented. "Breastfeeding your kid in public at another persons house after they’ve asked you to go somewhere private is not fine. That woman is the (expletive). She can feed her kid at her own house or according to the hosts wishes."
"You didn't do anything wrong, your house your rules," another person wrote.
And someone else thought that the haters had gotten it all wrong. "It has nothing to do with sexualizing breasts. It clearly made everyone uncomfortable and she should have respected that as it’s not her home," the person wrote. "There’s nothing wrong at all with breastfeeding in public, but public is not someone else’s home."
At the end of the day, the dad saw the responses to his post and realized he had made a mistake.
"I understand I am a major (expletive)," he wrote. "I sort of just saw the teens quiet when she popped her breasts out and instead of being happy that she gave this wonderful opportunity for normalizing this taboo thing, I gave her a really backward suggestion."
"I know I did something really stupid and I am a massive (expletive). Sorry for making you so angry. I agree I was an idiot."
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