Breastfeeding in Italy with a Toddler

by Maria on August 18, 2009 · 4 comments

in Breastfeeding,Tourism,Travel

I started this post after we returned from Italy in March 2009, but I never fin­ished it. What bet­ter time to do so than now?

Before we left for Milan, I was a bit anx­ious about nurs­ing a tod­dler on the flights and abroad.  I was used to how nurs­ing a two year old was seen in my every day life– pri­mar­ily in Tulsa and Min­nesota. I have a great sup­port sys­tem and know The Boy’s rights well. Going to a new coun­try though? For some rea­son I was a bit anx­ious about that.

Like many things in my time as a par­ent, I was wor­ried for no rea­son. Not once did I notice any­one giv­ing me a strange look. Not once did any­one men­tion to me that I should not nurse my tod­dler. For that mat­ter, I received noth­ing but sup­port from those around me. I am not sure if it is because a nurs­ing tod­dler is quiet on a long jour­ney or if they sim­ply did not care one way or the other, but the flights were with­out inci­dent, and so was our time in Italy.

I nursed The Boy all over the place– planes, trains, cafes, tours, etc. If any­thing, I recieved more smiles and pos­i­tive reac­tions than at any other time dur­ing our nurs­ing history.

I do not know if all of Italy is like what we expe­ri­enced in Milan and Venice, but I do know that I appre­ci­ated the atti­tude of those around me.  

Have you had pos­i­tive expe­ri­ences nurs­ing in coun­tries other than the one you reside in?

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Tagged as: Breastfeeding, Italy, Travel

{ 4 comments }

1 Urska August 19, 2009 at 5:42 pm

Well, I have bad experience in nursing in India (South India – Bangalore, Hyderabad). It is just not accepted :( . You would really need to be like super confident and just not give a damn what others think to be able to do it. Whenever I did it I not only got bad looks but also was told not to do it. Quite a nightmare indeed. I guess women just stay home?!?

2 Maria August 24, 2009 at 1:23 am

Urska– I’m sorry to hear you had such a bad time in India. I also wonder what women do if they are not to breastfeed in public.

3 jamie October 9, 2009 at 3:04 pm

My favorite thing ever… we were in Italy recently, as well. I was nursing my little girl at a gelateria. The ~22 year old waiter came over and lifted the cloth I had covering her/ my breast and he said, “Awwwwww… bellisima!” I died laughing. Only in Europe, right? I’m imagining a woman punching or sueing him in the US!!

4 Christina October 15, 2009 at 4:11 pm

Oliver wasn’t a toddler at the time, but Jamie’s story reminded me of one time when I was nursing Oliver in a restaurant in Munich. A father and son sat at the table next to us and the son came over to touch Oliver. The father said, “Don’t touch, the baby is eating. Just look.” Then they watched for a few moments tenderly. I thought, only in Europe!

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