Mothers who are out and about often find it very
difficult to know where they will be allowed to breastfeed their
baby, should it become necessary.
The papers are frequently littered with stories about how women
have been told to stop feeding their child in a shop, on a bus or
in various other public places.
This can be an embarrassing and humiliating experience for a
mum, as well as very distressing for the baby who needs to be
fed.
So where is there they can go where they can feel confident of
being allowed to breastfeed?
Café bars that provide commercial coffee
machine facilities could be ideal, as a recent investigation by
Caffe
Culture found that the main high street coffee shop chains do
not have any objections to the activity.
If mothers are not sure, they can always ask a member of staff,
but the positive response from those the publication spoke to
suggests there should not be a problem.
Of course, some coffee shop employees genuinely might not know
their company's position on breastfeeding in public and end up
asking a mother to stop by mistake.
This is one guaranteed way to trigger a round of negative
publicity for a firm, so it could pay for café bars to make sure
their staff know exactly where they stand on the issue of
breastfeeding. Why risk a PR disaster on such a scale?
And with the health benefits of breastfeeding regularly being
promoted these days, customer-facing businesses, especially
restaurants, cafes and hotels, need to show they are up to date and
open-minded.
Embracing breastfeeding on the premises can also help to attract
a potentially loyal group of customers, as mothers may find a café
bar the perfect place to socialise and hang out.
It's surely a win-win scenario for both the business and
the consumer.