A HORRIFIED mother claims a foul-mouthed creep filmed her breastfeeding on the bus.
Hamidat Soliu was on the bus to her friend’s house last week when her four-month-old daughter started crying, so she picked her up to feed her.
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While tending to her daughter, a passenger at the bus shouted over to the 27-year-old claiming another passenger was filming her and zooming in on her chest.
Disgusted, the healthcare assistant demanded to know why he was filming her and when he ignored her, she took out her phone and started filming him.
Footage then shows the man, wearing a hi-vis vest, being confronted by sickened passengers and apparently deleting the clip from his phone.
When one passenger demands to see proof, the bloke replied: “F*ck off you’re not touching my phone who do you think you are? You’re not the police.”
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When a second passenger suggests checking the picture gallery he said: “F*ck off, who do you think you are? I’m English […inaudible] and I live here.”
The mum claims the man was later confronted by the bus driver and kicked off the bus.
Hamidat, who is originally from Nigeria, says she reported the incident to police and has been left feeling ‘horrible’ by it.
Hamidat, from Manchester, Greater Manchester, said: “A voice reached out to me at the back [of the bus] and told me that the man was filming me breastfeeding and that he was zooming in on my boobs.
“I asked the man if he was recording me and to delete the video but he wasn’t answering – that’s when I picked up my phone and I started recording.
“When he was asked why he thought it was OK to film a breastfeeding mum, he said he has rights because he is English.
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“How can you say you have rights to film a breastfeeding mum just because you’re English?”
Shaken by the interaction, Hamidat says it made her feel uncomfortable and as if ‘she’d done something wrong’.
Hamidat said: “It’s been horrible. It made me feel as if I was doing something wrong by breastfeeding my baby when she was crying.
“It’s made me question myself as a mum and it shouldn’t be that way.
“All I wanted to do was feed my crying baby and not to have my rights violated – or be told by someone that he has the right to violate them because he’s white.”
After sharing two videos of the interaction on TikTok the clips went viral, racking up more than 5,720,141 views, likes, shares and comments.
One user wrote: “Anyone who says this lady shouldn’t breastfeed in public should never eat in public again.
“No restaurants, not even a sandwich walking down the road. How dare you eat in public when babies ‘shouldnt’.”
Another commented: “To the men who stood up for this mum…there’s hope for mankind after all.”
A third wrote: “You should be so proud of yourself for standing up for yourself. I can’t imagine how that ‘man’ made you feel.”
A fourth person commented: “Breastfeeding is not the problem. The people sexualising it are.”
Greater Manchester Police have been approached for comment.
What are the recommendations around breastfeeding?
The NHS recommends breastfeeding your baby exclusively (feeding them breast milk only) for the first six months, but it’s completely up to you to decide when you want to bring it to an end – and there’s really no right or wrong way to do it.
The NHS says weaning often happens gradually as your baby begins to eat more solid foods.
They note that solid food shouldn’t replace breast milk, as there is evidence to suggest breast milk helps a baby’s digestive system when processing solid food for the first time.
“Once they are eating solids, your baby will still need to have breast milk or formula as their main drink up to at least their first birthday,” recommends the NHS.
“Cows’ milk isn’t suitable as a main drink for babies under one, although it can be added to foods, such as mashed potatoes.”
You can also combine breastfeeding with formula, too and the NHS says “phasing out” of breastfeeding is often the easiest way.
For example, dropping one feed in the day or at night time.
After around a week, you can begin to think about dropping another.
“If your baby is younger than one year, you’ll need to replace the dropped breastfeed with a formula feed from a bottle or (if they are over six months) a cup or beaker, instead,” they say.
You can breastfeed for as long as you want, and while the NHS recommends breastfeeding your baby exclusively for the first six months, you shouldn’t feel like you cannot continue for longer.
The World Health Organization says: “Exclusive breastfeeding is recommended up to 6 months of age, with continued breastfeeding along with appropriate complementary foods up to two years of age or beyond.”
