A woman has recounted the shock she felt when she stumbled onto a video of herself breastfeeding her baby while scrolling through her Facebook feed.
In the video posted to Facebook, Izabelle Lomax, from Maryland, could be seen breastfeeding her nine-month-old son, Baker, on the beach. She was joined by family for a day spent out by the water amid a raging heatwave.
Lomax told Today that she had been in her own little area and that it hadn’t occurred to her that someone would be upset with her for “feeding [her] child”.
Upon seeing a video of herself breastfeeding her child that was filmed without her knowledge, Lomax, 24, took to TikTok to vent: “Just pulled up my Facebook and was greeted with this and I just cannot understand how another female can say this and take VIDEO of this momma feeding her baby and post it to the internet."
In the Facebook post, the poster wrote: "I blocked out the momma and baby for privacy but it got under my skin so badly.” The poster continued to write that they were not shaming women who breastfeed, but the women “who breastfeed in public with no respect to cover themselves up and just let their boobs hangout (nipple included) for everyone to see!”
“COVER TF UP!!!” The poster added below the video. “I shouldn’t have to cover my son’s eyes and explain why your boobs are out and quite frankly I don’t want to see it either. Have some respect!”
To say Lomax was not happy about the poster’s remarks is putting it lightly. In the video, she continued: “Imagine waking up, getting on Facebook, and seeing this video of yourself yesterday at the beach."
“Not only did this woman walk past me multiple times with her son, you had every opportunity in the world to say something to me.” The mother proceeded to lambast the Facebook poster: “Not that I would have cared or stopped what I was doing, but you instead choose to post a video of me and my child on Facebook, publicly for the world to see.”
“What if you were told that the only way you could eat at the beach is if you were covered up by a towel?” Lomax continued, while calling out the Facebook poster for mom-shaming her. She then told her that the next time they see another mom breastfeeding in public, they should “tell her how good of a job she’s doing”.
In an interview with Today, Lomax said that the poster deleted the video without any apology. In the comment section of her TikTok, many users were outraged on her behalf, writing: “You did amazing mama! Feed that baby wherever whenever.”
Another wrote: “With these record heat spikes too. Covering up would be torture to me and my little one.”
The Independent has contacted Lomax for comment.
