'Nobody puts baby in a corner'
SOMETIMES we only realise how far society and culture has progressed when something goes awry.
The furore caused by a local mother being asked to move to the corner of a restaurant to breastfeed her baby, for fear she might upset the other customers, is a case in point.
It wasn’t that long ago that such an incident would not only have provoked no surprise, it would have been expected.
But the fact that the woman in question received such overwhelming support from fellow mums, who descended on the venue to protest at her treatment, and the fact that she received an unreserved apology from the restaurant itself, turned what began as a humiliating experience into a heart-warming event.
Being a parent is hard enough without being made to feel bad for doing something as innocuous as feeding your child.
For decades women have been told that ‘breast is best’ and have been unnecessarily shamed for opting for formula, yet if they dared to breastfeed in public it was seen as an insult to public decency.
The insinuation was that they ought to stay at home, tied to the domestic sphere in which they belonged.
Fortunately, attitudes have moved on and most people now respect a woman’s right to move freely through the world – even with a baby attached to her breast.