Nick Clegg has defended the right of mothers to breastfeed in public after a woman was asked to cover up with a napkin in Claridge’s hotel.
The deputy prime minister said people should “ease up and be a bit more relaxed” about breastfeeding outside the home, as it is a good thing when mothers are encouraged to feel confident about the practice.
He was disagreeing with a caller on his LBC 97.3 radio show who suggested women should only breastfeed in private.
The debate has been reignited after a woman said she felt humiliated after being asked to cover up while breastfeeding at Claridge’s, the luxury London hotel.
Louise Burns, 35, who tweeted pictures of herself and her 12-week-old baby, said she was having a Christmas tea treat at the hotel with her mother and sister when her infant needed feeding.
“I started feeding her very discreetly when the waiter hurried over with a huge napkin, knelt down and said it was policy to cover up,” she told the Guardian. “My initial reaction was to burst into tears. This was my third baby. I had trouble breastfeeding the first two but this was going well. I didn’t expect to be admonished in a central London hotel.”
Burns, from Streatham, south London, who worked in financial services, said she felt very awkward and wanted to leave, but stayed because it was a treat for her family.
“We should create an environment where mums feel it is OK to breastfeed and we shouldn’t somehow sweep it under the carpet,” Clegg said. “I think any mum listening who has breastfed in public would be spluttering with indignation at the implication that it is somehow an in-your-face thing to do in public. Mums all the time breastfeed in a discreet way in public that is not in any way offensive to other people whether it is two old men in their 80s or two young men who are 18.”
On its website, the NHS says: “You shouldn’t ever be made to feel uncomfortable about breastfeeding in public. In fact, the Equality Act 2010 has made it illegal for anyone to ask a breastfeeding woman to leave a public place such as a cafe, shop or public transport.”
