Ever been told to ‘cover up’ while breastfeeding?
You’re not alone. Many women have at least heard a story about a breastfeeding mum being told to ‘cover up.’
Yeah, no. There are SO many things wrong with this (above and beyond the fact that, in Australia, it’s legal to breastfeed ANYWHERE), it’s difficult to know where to start.
Which is why we LOVE Melanie Dudley’s response so much.
Man gets mad, mum gets awesome
They say action speaks louder than words and when the mother-of-three was asked to ‘cover up’ while feeding her four-month-old baby at a Mexican restaurant, she did just that.
She ‘covered up’.
Melanie’s mother-in-law, Kitty Yannone snapped a pic and shared it on Facebook “I love my daughter-in-law so much!!! Someone told her to ‘cover up’ while she was feeding my grandson #5 in a restaurant,” she wrote.
And who was the breast-phobic person who told Carol to cover up? We’ll let her reveal that tidbit.
“I was on vacation in Cabo San Lucas with my entire family and a man asked me to cover myself,” Carol told Yahoo! Lifestyle. “I’m usually discreet, but we were seated in the back of the restaurant.”
Of course, other women sick of being shamed for feeding their babies quickly shared the image, including family friend Carol Lockwood who wrote: “A friend’s daughter-in-law was told to “cover up” while feeding her baby, so she did! I’ve never met her, but I think she’s AWESOME!!! (Please share! With permission, I’ve made this post public — I’m SO over people shaming women for nursing!!!.”
From there, things went a bit nuts, with the image going well and truly viral. Carol’s post was shared just under 200,000 times and received more than 100,000 ‘likes’ and plenty of supportive comments.
“It’s a breast, not a brontosaurus. Keep your eyes on your own enchiladas and stop judging others.” Gwendolyn
” I see more titties at a beach/pool than I can of her breastfeeding right now. Y’all need to chill the hell out, and sit tf down! Maegan
“Awesome! If it bothers you that a Mother is doing the most natural thing you could do for your baby, don’t look!” Grace
“Breast feeding is the best thing you can do for your child. Their needs are more important than some uptight clueless man. Whip it out and feed those babies.” Delia
Kitty says she never expected the photo to strike such a chord with women. “I received an iMessage from a woman in the Netherlands yesterday saying that my post is trending there and my daughter-in-law is a rock star. To me, it’s sad that so many women have been made to feel uncomfortable nursing their babies in public places.”
We couldn’t agree more. Anything that helps normalise breastfeeding gets the thumbs up from us!
Fellow nursing mama? Check out our post on what breastfeeding REALLY looks like.
