A mum says a recent picnic quickly soured after her own aunt took issue with her breastfeeding her 11-month-old daughter in public, accusing her of "flashing" her family.
According to this stunned new mum, she doesn't see her aunt that often, given that they live quite far away from each other, but they recently met up at a family picnic.
While they were catching up, her baby needed feeding and so, thinking nothing of it, she unzipped her nursing tank top - at the side furthest from her aunt - and let her hungry child latch on.
She didn't realise this would be an issue until her aunt apparently asked her, rather pointedly, whether she'd like something to cover herself up with.
Taking to Reddit, the baffled mother wrote: "My aunt asked if I wanted something to cover up and I said no thank you, my daughter pulls off any cover I've tried and not much of my breast was exposed except my nipple which my baby was covering.
"She made a joke about me having no shame which I laughed off, then told me even though I'm comfortable feeding her without a cover maybe she or the rest of my family isn't.
"I told her I was more interested in me and my daughter being comfortable for the 10 minutes she would eat and if it bothered her she was welcome to move."
Reaching out to fellow Reddit users for advice, she continued: "She then scoffed at me but didn't move, making a weird look at me then going into her phone and halting our conversation.
"I don't think I was out of line, but I heard her complaining to my cousins shortly after and they told me I shouldn't feel so comfortable 'flashing' my family. In nicer words, I told them to f*** off."
Although she doesn't feel she should be ashamed of feeding her own child, she now wonders whether she could have handled the situation differently. Many commenters were quick to reassure her however that she'd done absolutely nothing wrong.
One person remarked: "People who are offended by the fact that babies eat can shut their eyes or walk away. Babies. Eat. Breasts may be involved. Get over it."
Another agreed: "People forget they were once a helpless little screaming potato at one point, and that people put up with them. God forbid they show an infant the same level of grace they once received."
A third person declared: "She can throw a tablecloth over her head every time she eats dinner if it's so appalling to watch a human being consume food. Oh, that'd be uncomfortable and put her off her dinner? Weird how babies feel the same."
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