Breastfeeding mom forced to stand because no one offered a seat on rush-hour train

Rebekah Scanlan
·Senior Lifestyle & Entertainment Producer
Kate <span>Hitchens</span> penned a post urging commuters to be kinder after she was forced to breastfeed her 6-month-old son, Charli, standing up during a recent trip. (Photo: Instagram/babyledweaningclub)
Kate Hitchens penned a post urging commuters to be kinder after she was forced to breastfeed her 6-month-old son, Charli, standing up during a recent trip. (Photo: Instagram/babyledweaningclub)

A blogger’s Instagram post about traveling on a train with a baby has gone viral because of the shocking situation she found herself in.

Kate Hitchens was riding a commuter train home from London during rush hour with her 6-month-old son, and unfortunately she couldn’t find a seat. Having to breastfeed her baby, she did so standing — and then took to social media to air her frustration with the fact that “not one person offered a mother carrying a small child a seat for around half an hour, or 3 stops!”

View this post on Instagram

On my way home from London on a packed commuter train and this is what I faced. What has the world come to that a mother has to stand up on a moving train breast feeding a wriggling and writhing 6 month old, 20lb baby?! The point here isn't just that I found it difficult because I was nursing (although that was bloody difficult!), but that not one person offered a mother carrying a small child a seat for around half an hour, or 3 stops! I could have asked, but I didn't. I felt silly. I shouldn't have to ask. Maybe some people didn't see. I know for a fact some did; they made eye contact and actually smiled at me. I was thinking stop smiling and offer me your seat please! One lady looked up from her book and immediately offered me her seat, another lady then sat in it and when the lovely lady said 'Oh excuse me I actually gave up my seat so this lady with a baby could sit down' the sitting lady shrugged, plugged her earphones in and closed her eyes! I like to think that she needed that seat more than me, perhaps she was newly pregnant and in that early exhaustion period, perhaps she was knackered after a day at work, perhaps she was ill. Or perhaps she was just a twat. I hope not. I can somewhat understand not offering your seat to someone elderly; perhaps they might be offended you think they look old! I can understand not offering your seat to someone you suspect might be pregnant; maybe it's just their time of the month or perhaps they are just naturaly curvy and they aren't pregnant; perhaps you worry you might offend them. I cannot get my head around not offering a parent with a child a seat. Next time you see someone with a child on a train – if you're able bodied and fit and healthy please offer your seat to them!

A post shared by Hitchens' Kitchen BLW Club (@baby_led_weaning_club) on Sep 4, 2018 at 12:54pm PDT

“What has the world come to that a mother has to stand up on a moving train breast feeding a wriggling and writhing 6 month old, 20lb baby?!” the 32-year-old wrote.

Her post also noted that she could have asked for a seat but “shouldn’t have to.”

Hitchens, who is also mom to 3-year-old Oliver, concluded by urging people to “be kinder” if they see others struggling. “Next time you see someone with a child on a train — if you’re able bodied and fit and healthy please offer your seat to them,” she said.

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