This mom breastfed in public, and a stranger's response nearly left her in tears.
"I honestly could have cried."
New mom Briar Lusia Mcqueen was a little on edge.
It was the first time Mcqueen had gone out to eat at a restaurant with just her 8-week-old son. And as humans — especially human babies — tend to do sometimes, her little one needed to eat.
So Mcqueen started breastfeeding. And that's when she got scared.
Photo via iStock.
A woman approached her, and Mcqueen — like many moms in this situation before her — thought, "This might not end well."
"I was scared," she explained in a Facebook post, noting she thought the elderly stranger was about to scold her for breastfeeding her son in public.
Thankfully, the exact opposite happened.
"What a good mama you are," said the kind-hearted stranger, who'd come over to cut up Mcqueen's breakfast for her. "We can't have your food getting cold, can we?"
The stranger's selflessness has struck a chord with folks around the world. The post, which was originally shared where Mcqueen lives in New Zealand, was picked up by Love What Matters and has been Liked more than 500,000 times.
It may have been a simple, kind gesture, but with breastfeeding in public still an incredibly stigmatized act, it makes a big difference.
A mom breastfeeding her baby is totally natural. Yet, despite the fact the practice is very much encouraged by health professionals — not to mention legal to do in public in 49 states — breastfeeding moms are shamed time and time and time again. On the flip side, mothers who don't breastfeed (maybe they can't or maybe they choose not to) are shamed as well.
Which begs the question: If there's one person who doesn't deserve to be shamed, isn't it a new mom who's trying to do what's best for her kid?
Photo via iStock.
Mcqueen won't be forgetting this stranger's selfless act anytime soon.
"I honestly could have cried," she explained in her post, noting the complete stranger turned out to be the "loveliest lady ever."