Me too!
Sometimes, if Mrs T and I are feeling especially fancy, we’ll even go somewhere they don’t print pictures of the food on the menu.
Sometimes - and I know some people may find this hard to stomach (not apologising for the pun; it was a good one) - we’ll even let our little baby eat, as well!
“What? Why would that be hard for anyone to stomach?” I hear you ask.
Very reasonable question.
Problem is, there are still a few people out there who struggle with the concept of a baby eating in public.
Well it’s not necessarily that they’re eating.
It’s that they dare to get their food from their mother’s breast! (OK, that’s enough exclamation marks for today).
The first time Mrs T fed Baby T in public, it felt like a military operation.
The cafe was quite busy, and we’d checked our exit routes carefully just in case things went south.
But we’d trained for this. We were prepared:
Breastfeeding cover? ✅
Tucked into a corner? ✅
A lunch that can be held with one hand? ✅
Hungry baby? ✅
A quality night’s sleep beforehand? ❌
Well, you can never really be fully prepared, I guess.
The atmosphere was tense.
Our eyes scanned the cafe for potential threats.
A bead of sweat tickled the end of my nose.
I hadn’t even touched my flat white.
Mrs T, with her now fully-developed inner “momma bear” always hovering just beneath the surface, was ready to pounce at anyone who dared pass judgement on this most natural, beautiful moment.
And I, like a newly anointed knight, was prepared to defend her honour to the last.
Minutes passed.
Baby T was still feeding.
Our eyes were still scanning.
And not one judgemental eye had crossed paths with ours.
Because it turns out (in our fairly limited experience) most people are decent human beings who recognise that a mother breastfeeding her child in public is so normal that it’s almost boring.
So this post isn’t a dig at the tiny minority of judgemental fuck-wits who still drag their knuckles across this Earth.
Because this blog isn’t for them; they don’t deserve our attention.
But there are a couple of things I want to share with some important people.
Mums feeding babies in public: well done to you for getting out of the house.
Partners sitting across from them: what’s happening in front of you is absolute magic.
Have you encountered any knuckle-dragging, judgemental morons? Or have you been lucky, like me and Mrs T? Share your stories in the comments. Or don’t. It’s up to you really. It’d be nice, though.
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