CALLED A PAEDOPHILE FOR BREASTFEEDING MY 7-YEAR-OLD

Lisa Bridger, 49, was only doing what came naturally. So why was she hated so much?

- JENNY ACKLAND, LUCY LAING

Sitting on the bench, I dropped my carrier bags, pulled up my top and moved my breast out of my bra. It was 2018, and I was in the middle of a packed shopping centre with two hungry mouths to feed. Being a single mum, I was used to multitasking – but it was the disapproving tuts and glares from passers-by that were hard to deal with.

‘Disgusting!’ a woman hissed at me, shaking her head in disbelief.

And it wasn’t just the breastfeeding that was drawing so much attention – it was the age of my children. My two sons, Chase, then seven, and Phoenix, four, weren’t tiny babies any more, and were both still on the breast, which many people clearly found uncomfortable viewing.

The sight of two walking, talking, children pulling up my T-shirt for a feed was too much for most people to stomach. But to me, breastfeeding my growing boys was the most natural thing in the world and I had no intention of stopping any time soon – and certainly not to appease strangers.

SHARED CLOSENESS

Chase had been born in October 2011 and, at a few minutes old, he was happily latched on to my breast, feeding away.

I had three older children, now aged 25, 23, and 20, and I’d breastfed them all until they were two or three years old. I knew most mums stopped after a year or so, but it just felt natural for me to carry on and I really enjoyed those close moments spent with my children.

I found breastfeeding sealed a bond between us and breastfeeding wasn’t just about filling them up. As they grew, it was my way of providing love and comfort, too.