Brighton’s First Breastfeed Flash Mob a Huge Success

An article by Claire    No Comments

It was the first Breastfeeding Flash Mob in the South East, outside of the capital and a raging success. Over 60 women took part last Thursday, feeding their babies at The Clocktower in the city centre at 1pm. It was on the back of public bullying I had received in a cafe by members of the public.

The Argus headline stated, ‘Brighton breastfeeding flash mob creates a media frenzy’ and they weren’t far from the truth, relatively speaking. Crews from BBC South East and ITV’s Meridian interviewed mums taking part and myself, with the BBC broadcasting live from the event. Photographers from The Argus, The Press Association, Reuters were snapping away. The story went out on the wire and was posted on-line by The Daily Mail, The Mirror and BBC News. Last but not least, radio got in on the act with BBC Sussex conducting a phone in on breastfeeding between 1pm and 4pm. The images from the paps were stunning and once they had all gone, the mums hung around chatting and getting to know one another. It was a community event, not representing one organisation or political group - a cross section of mums from across the city.

By Thursday evening, I was ready to curl up with a small glass of wine and rest. Except ITV called again but this time it was Daybreak. ‘When you say you want to interview me, where would that be exactly?’ I naively asked. ‘From the sofa at the studios,’ was the reply. The sent a car, organised a hotel and by 8pm we were chilling out in the lounge bar with the kids. I wasn’t as terrified as I thought I’d be. Mostly because I kept getting comments on the original post, on Facebook and e-mails from mums sharing similar stories and thanking me and the other mums for taking a stand and showing solidarity to breastfeeding mums. It spurred me on to the next media interview, I kept telling myself, ‘You have to do this.’.

The only thing left for me to do is thank all of those who helped make it happen. Firstly, those who spread the word and recruited mums. Plus all those who made it on the day and took part. It’s clear without these people it would not of happened at all. Thirdly, Jo Wadsworth for nudging me in the right direction and getting the story out there. Suzanne Borrell from Baby Expo published press releases and handled media on the day. God knows we needed her and the clipboard. Chelle McCann was at base camp capturing the media content and posting to You Tube. She was also head Brighton cheerleader, backing me up all the way. We robber her beautiful Fizz of her 2nd birthday too! Saving the best thank you for last, goes to my family (yes, I know, it’s not an Oscar speech) above all my husband. He had a week off to do Christmas things but sacrificed his time to look after the kids while I rattled off 700 words for the Guardian for a short deadline.

I nestled myself in the front row of the flash mob, naturally (diva? Moi?), a seemingly timid, quietly spoken mum with a 10 week old baby was sat next to me. She gave her thanks for organising the mob. ‘It’s hard enough establishing breastfeeding, let alone getting the confidence to feed in public.’ It’s for her and those reasons we came together, all the media attention in the world couldn’t make up for that.

I’d like to track all those who took part on the day for feedback (not necessarily for public use). Please e-mail me with your details: brightonmums@gmail.com

Here’s our gallery of the day.