Feeding your baby is putting me off my teacakes!
A NEW mother was reduced to tears after a cafe customer told her she and her ‘mammary brigade’ were ‘putting her off her teacake’.
Nikki Davis was relaxing with friends when she breastfed her hungry eight-week- old daughter in an Essex coffee shop.
But the 32-year- old mother of little Dulcie became ‘distressed’ when fellow diners scolded her for it – with one woman making the teacake remark and telling her to feed her baby in the toilet.
The mum, from Lawford, who was with fellow new mothers she’d met at her National Childbirth Trust class, said she later overheard the same lady mock her and her pals by labelling them the ‘mammary brigade’.
She said: ‘This was really distressing to hear and actually made me cry. I met two friends from my NCT class. We’ve all recently had babies so wanted to meet up to support each other at the cafe...I then overheard a woman describe us as the ‘ mammary brigade’ and stated we were ‘putting her off her teacake’ ..’’
Miss Davis confronted the customer in Mistley Place Cafe. But the woman refused to back down – adding that she found breastfeeding in public ‘offensive’ before telling her she should feed her child in the toilet.
Miss Davis added that the incident has ‘knocked’ her confidence as a new mother.
She added: ‘It really is difficult, which is why the UK has the lowest breastfeeding rates in the world, with only 1 per cent of babies still being exclusively breastfed at six months despite the health benefits...My main hope is that people will just be kind to breastfeeding mums and realise it is a tough job and we are doing our best.’
Peter Taylor, the owner of Mistley Place Park Cafe, said his customers were welcome to breastfeed as ‘it’s just a natural thing to do’. It comes after single mother Sam Lucas, 33, was thrown out of the West End musical American Idiot at the Arts Theatre in central London for breastfeeding her ten-month-old daughter.
Another mother, Rosey Hughes, was left shocked after Costa Coffee staff allegedly told her to cover up while breastfeeding in Stretford Mall, Manchester – as it offended another customer.