Why do some people get so offended when a woman breast feeds in public? The baby decides whe he/she wants to eat. Why should the woman have to wait till she gets home or do it in a bathroom when it's just as easy for others to just look away?

Breast feeding babies? no problem. Toddlers? problem.

Aside from taking the easy answer and saying people are ignorant and unthinking prudes, I honestly don't know why people get so offended by the sight of a woman feeding her hungry child. Breastfeeding is natural, better for the baby than formula, and more convenient than bottles which have to be lugged around along with the other baby stuff, kept cold, and then warmed.

When a woman's baby is hungry, the woman should NOT have to wait until she gets home to feed, nor should she have to hide in a toilet cubicle or under a blanket to save the general public a glimpse of flesh or (shock! horror!) perhaps even a nipple.

It annoys me when people say, "I don't mind public breastfeeding...as long as it's done discreetly," meaning that it's okay as long as no one ever sees. Despite the myth circulating, no woman who breastfeeds in public does so with the intention of putting on a peep-show. Contrary to alarmist anti-public breastfeeders, breastfeeding women do not want strangers staring at parts of them which in all other circumstances are covered up in public.

Trying to breastfeed a baby when you're out of your comfort zone and with your hands full can be difficult enough without having to try and drape a smothering blanket over a baby's head or ensure the entire breast remains swathed in fabric. I suggest people who are so offended by the sight of a woman with the temerity to feed her baby in plain view, take a good hard look at society and realise there are plenty of issues that truly are offensive to humanity.

Unfortunately, our society focuses on breasts as sexual objects rather than their primary purpose which is to feed children. Some men are uncomfortable seeing a strange woman's breast (they just can't disassociate it with sex) and they also get uncomfortable seeing a baby on the breast for one of two reasons. Either it reminds them of what a breast is really all about and they feel uncomfortable with all the objectifying they have done in the past or they see they baby putting it's mouth on something they associate with sex. Some women become uncomfortable for the same reasons. They may also have the additional concern that their spouse (or whatever) or adolescent son may be "looking". To expose a breast in public is "shameful" to them. It's silly, but it's true. People really just need to learn to accept that breastfeeding is normal (and not remotely shameful) and it has nothing to do with sexual activities. It's not something that needs to be done in secret nor should a woman be made to feel embarrassed about it.

Because some people are unable in their tiny minds to separate breasts as a feeding tool for infants (i.e. the reason God designed breasts) from breasts as a sexual object.

I breastfed my son until the age of 2 (of course after age 1 it was not exclusive anymore).

Trust me, out in public it's hard enough to breastfeed...like the other poster said...no woman trying to breastfeed WANTS to call attention to herself or give a peep show.

I refused to go to a germ infested bathroom to breast feed. I used a light weight shawl or went to the car (by choice!). Most of the time it wasn't a problem.

I've breastfed in doctors offices, restaurants, library, etc and nobody really noticed. Those who did were usually mothers themselves and said "how sweet" or something like that.

it's not that i get offended by it, i just find that it should be treated as a special bonding between mother & baby, and not out there for the whole world to see.

Because men have to grow up and stop oggling at mothers who breastfeed that makes them uncomfortable!

If the breast-feeding is done in good taste, i see nothing wrong with it.

I don't mean that the woman can just flop one out and let her kid go for it.

I do mean to use disgreation, like covering with a baby blanket.

I don't think it's offended as much as it is they are uncomfortable with it because we see it so seldom. If we saw it being done more, no one would even notice. That's what I think anyway.