Breastfeeding mum abused by teenagers on bus
Vicky Ogborne was left shaking after children taunted her while she was feeding her 9-month-old baby
Picture the scene; you’re on a packed bus with your 2 schoolchildren when your baby starts to fuss. You get her out of her pram and cuddle her but you know that despite the rowdy teenagers at the back of the bus, there’s only one thing you can do that’s going to stop her from crying – feed her.
But what happened next to mum-of-3 Vicky Ogborne from Stoke Gabriel in Devon left her shaking and her son in tears.
"I’d just picked my children Anya, 10, and Lukas, 7, up from school, gotten on the bus, and I noticed a few boys at the back were making a lot of noise but I just ignored them," Vicky told MFM.
But then her 9-month-old, Olivia, started to fuss.
"The baby was really tired and hungry so I took her out of the pram and I was giving her cuddles but I knew I would have to feed her at some point," she said.
Conscious of the teenagers at the back of the bus, Vicky placed a blanket over her chest and started to feed Olivia. She takes 8 buses a day ferrying her kids to and from school, so she was used to feeding her baby on the go and was completely shocked by the teenagers’ reaction.
"As soon as I started feeding, the teens were making vomit noises and retching.
"'Look at that slag she’s got her tit out,' they shouted.
"I tried to unlatch her but she cried even louder than before and she would not stop so I had no choice but to keep feeding her.
"My son looked at me and went very quiet and my 10-year-old said, 'just ignore them mum'. Then Lukas just burst into tears," Vicky said.
She tried to console him during the 20-minute ride home, but finally she couldn’t take it any longer and got off the bus a stop early.
"That’s how threatened we felt, I just needed to get off the bus, I was shaking," she said. "'Stop breastfeeding in public because it upsets people,' Lukas said when we got off the bus. 'No, it’s not ok to treat people like that,' I told him."
When she got home, Vicky emailed South Devon High School where she knew the teens attended – and has since received an apology from the head teacher.
"I’ve not really breastfed in public much since to be honest," Vicky said. "I struggled because I was so shocked but if it happened again I would have to say: 'No it’s not ok'."
What do you think about Vicky’s story? Let us know in the comments below…
Photo: Purple Gecko Photographics
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