No conflict there
I've started to see more 'breastfeeding welcome' type signs. Not many. A few here and there. There's one posted on the front door of my local greasy spoon. And I know that's true, 'cos I've breastfed my son there and I was made to feel very welcome. (They've been good all along though, from infant stages to his crazy spilling destructive phase to now when he's a half-way decent diner when he's not too tired or too hungry or too bored or just plain fractious.)
And here's one posted on a door that's just inside the toilets at the National Railway Museum. It's the tiny one at the top.
I've always felt more than slightly uneasy about relegating breastfeeding to the toilet, even if it is a separate room like here. Maybe it's an oasis of calm with plush sofas and freely dispensed creamy cappuccinos, but I doubt it.
What makes me more uneasy is the larger 'sponsored by Cow & Gate' sign. Cow & Gate is a brand of formula. No conflict there. In the interest of child health, my ass.
I'm not rabidly anti-formula. Honestly. I used formula myself to feed my son, he had one bottle a day as a baby and we used the 'follow-on formula' (a slightly higher iron formula aimed at babies older than 6 months and concocted only to escape an advertising ban on infant formula) because it was easier to ensure we always had a supply of the powdered stuff than fresh milk.
But I don't think that sticking nursing mum's in a toilet, shoving formula advertising at them "in the interest of child health" is exactly encouraging breastfeeding.
Shame on Cow & Gate, shame on the National Railway Museum.
