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What a boob!

Whipping them out in public was mortifying...


Published by: Laura Hinton and Emma Shephard
Published on: 31st August 2010

Uh, oh… It was no use, I was going to have to take my breast out in public again.
Struggling out of my maternity bra in the coffee shop, I pulled a blanket over my shoulder and tried to help Sam find my nipple without looking. I couldn’t look – I was checking if anyone was watching!
‘Come on, bubba,’ I sighed, desperately trying to hold the blanket in place with my chin in an effort to maintain my dignity.
The last thing I wanted to do was flash everyone trying to enjoy their cappuccinos.
My partner Dan laughed at me as he put the coffees down. ‘Why are you so bothered?’ he said.
‘I just don’t feel comfortable doing it in public’ I snapped. ‘Can we go, please? I need to feed him, and I can’t do it here.’
I shouldn’t have snapped at Dan. But I’d just found out I’d been made redundant from work and was feeling stressed out.
I’d known my job was under threat when I went on maternity leave, but they’d promised to try to find me something else if the worst happened.
That was no longer an option. We’d have to make do on Dan’s wages with a new baby to care for.
‘I feel so useless,’ I’d cried to Dan when I found out. ‘I want to give Sam everything, and now we’ll barely be able to afford the mortgage.’
‘Something will come up,’ he’d soothed. ‘We’ll manage.’
I wanted to find another job as soon as I was able to leave Sam. But that night, after yet another breastfeeding in public incident, I took a break from job-hunting to search through the mother and baby sites, looking for a solution to my problem.
‘What I need,’ I thought, ‘is something that lets me breastfeed discreetly, that gives me support, and that he isn’t going to pull off.’
But after a few hours, I was ready to admit defeat.
‘I guess I’ll just have to make do with the blanket,’ I sighed to Dan. ‘Unless…’
The next day, I bought some fabric, and roped in my new baby to help me fashion a breastfeeding scarf. After a lot of false starts, I was satisfied with my prototype. ‘Well done, Sam,’ I cooed. ‘We’ve got it.’
Before I could change my mind, I contacted some shops. Now my Mama Scarf is sold at 60 shops in the UK. I’ve just been approached by a chain who want to stock it from this summer. I’ve even been named the winner of the Mumsnet Best Award – other mums were as embarrassed as me!
Being made redundant was horrible, but it really was the best thing that could’ve happened. I love going to work now, and I get to hang out with my children Sam and Lily all day!
• www.mamascarf.co.uk
Keira O’Mara, 32, Birmingham