A breastfeeding mother was forced to stand for half an hour on a packed rush hour train because no one would offer her a seat.
Kate Hitchens, 32, was travelling home to Essex from London with her six-month-old son Charlie on Tuesday and “couldn’t get her head around” how inconsiderate everyone on the train was.
In an angry Instagram post, she shared a photo of herself standing on the packed train and wrote that commuters saw her nursing a “wriggling and writhing” 20lb Charlie but did nothing to help her.
“The point here isn’t just that I found it difficult because I was nursing (although that was bloody difficult!), but that not one person offered a mother carrying a small child a seat for around half an hour,” she wrote.
“I could have asked, but I didn’t. I felt silly. I shouldn’t have to ask. Maybe some people didn’t see. I know for a fact some did; they made eye contact and actually smiled at me. I was thinking stop smiling and offer me your seat please!”
Kate, who writes about baby-led weaning on her blog Hitchins’ Kitchen, told the BBC the journey left her feeling “embarrassed and flustered”.
“I don’t make a big deal of breastfeeding and try to be discreet but everyone could see what I was doing,” she said. “Physically, I felt quite uncomfortable as I didn’t have much to hold on to and Charlie was jiggling around as the train moved so it hurt.”
Kate called for people to be more considerate: “Next time you see someone with a child on a train – if you’re able bodied and hit and healthy please offer your seat to them!”
Top Comments
wow, a first world problem!. get over it. you seem to be able to grab your phone out of your bag, whilst breastfeeding and take the pic and then send it.
It is a first world problem, because when I was travelling in developing and third world countries, while pregnant and when carrying a toddler (different times), I was offered seats on packed trains every single time.
People on public transport in big cities are jerks. I once had to physically restrain someone from jumping into a seat that I had reserved for an elderly lady who was struggling to not fall over on the train.