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Seems like the baby is the only guest who gets no food.
By Megan Quinn — Written on Jul 31, 2022
A 34-year-old man found himself in hot water after asking his sister to stop breastfeeding her infant during his wedding reception in front of guests.
His wife and parents told him he was in the wrong since nobody else seemed to have a problem with it.
The man took to Reddit, where he posted his story on the subreddit thread, “r/AmItheA–hole” (AITA), seeking the opinion of other users regarding the situation. This thread allows people to share personal expereinces with the intention of hearing out the thoughts of other users.
Users had the choice to give him a “You’re the A–hole” (YTA) rating if they believed that he was wrong or a “You’re Not the A-hole” (YNTA) rating if they thought he was not.
The man shared that his sister gave birth two months ago and that she typically breastfeeds in front of others wherever she goes.
“We visit her house? She’ll breastfeed in front of us. Visiting our parents? She’ll breastfeed. Going out in a public setting? She’ll sit on a bench on the park and breastfeed,” the man wrote.
He added that he’s never spoken out against it because he knows he’ll offend his sister. However, when he saw her breastfeeding in front of his guests at his wedding reception dinner, he says he ‘lost his cool.’
He insisted his sister stop breastfeeding her baby during the wedding.
At first, the man says he ‘kindly approached’ his sister. He asked her why she didn't bring formua or pump milk into a bottle beforehand.
His sister replied to him, “because I don’t have to. I feel comfortable breastfeeding.”
She also claimed that pumping was painful for her.
The man then told her that she could’ve "made this sacrifice" and compromised for one day to substitute formula or pump milk instead of breastfeeding in front of his 250 guests.
“I told her she should be more thoughtful of that instead of completely embarrassing herself and us by doing this,” he wrote.
His sister told the man that there was not much she could do about it now, as her baby needed to eat.
The man complained to his wife at the reception about his sister breastfeeding in front of their guests.
His wife disagreed with him and told him he should apologize to his sister immediately. The man’s parents sided with his wife and agreed that his sister was doing no harm and that no other guests were bothered by her breastfeeding.
The man wrote that he decided to call his sister out only because he considered her breastfeeding to be "bad etiquette" and "tacky" at a formal event.
Many Redditors believed that the man was wrong and that he should have never tried to shame his sister for simply feeding her baby.
“Even if the baby could take a bottle (be it pumped milk or formula), mom would still have to pump when baby has the bottle so as not to upset her milk supply. OP is very ignorant on how feeding babies works,” one user wrote.
Other users argued that the man’s sister did not even have to attend the wedding with a newborn at all but still showed up to support her brother and that he should’ve taken that into consideration.
“Your sister deserves a hug and a thank you for making the effort to attend a wedding with a 2-month-old,” another user wrote.
Luckily this man won’t ever have to be burdened by judgemental comments like those he said to his sister since he will never have to face the challenges of breastfeeding himself.
Megan Quinn is a writer at YourTango who covers pop culture, self, love, and relationships.