November 14, 2024
Once you have children you’d be forgiven for thinking your festival going days are over. But no, think again! Festivals are getting more child and family friendly with each passing year.
We’re even seeing many brand new festivals popping up catering specifically for families – all in the name of having a good time and sharing a love of music, culture and art.
Of course, summertime is alight with amazing festivals happening around the world and we thought it was the perfect opportunity to speak with some festival-loving breastfeeding mamas. Which festivals have they been to and what was their breastfeeding experiences like? Did the festival have breastfeeding friendly facilities and what would their top tips be for other breastfeeding mamas? Let’s take a look…
“We took our 9 month old twins to Glastonbury festival last year, being seasoned festival-goers, I wasn’t daunted about having babies at such a large event, but because of this, I had done zero research on what support might be available! It turns out that Glastonbury is a great place for breastfeeding parents! The NCT tent, open in the Kids Field during the day, was a calm haven for babies and parents – cups of tea, play equipment, a calm zone for tiny babies… a friend tipped me off, and we found it to be so welcoming.
A real highlight for me was breastfeeding my girls to sleep while watching Paul McCartney play on the main pyramid stage – it was the perfect lullaby soundtrack!
Breastfeeding while camping or festival-going is so practical – and if you can find a place to sit down that’s dry – then it can be a lovely chance to take a moment to be with your baby/babies and soak up the atmosphere.” says Abigail MacDougall
“This was taken at Stendhal Festival in Limavady, Northern Ireland Summer 2022. With both of my daughters, I have found breastfeeding to be a lifesaver at festivals! As in everyday life, it’s an on the go source of food and comfort with no prep or wait time and no equipment required. It allowed me to start taking my daughters to festivals from 5 months old with no worries.
With both of my daughters, I have found breastfeeding to be a lifesaver at festivals!
The breastfeeding wagon at Stendhal is such a welcome addition to provide mums with a space to chill and have an informal chat with breastfeeding support workers and other parents.” says Niamh Hart
“This is me breastfeeding my 6 week old baby while being entertained by my 6 year old son, at Shambala last year. Shambala is a four day music festival that takes place in Northamptonshire.” says Charlotte Petch
“This summer we took our son to Download Festival for the first time! Unsurprisingly, considering the heatwave and the fact we were around large crowds of strangers, my son spent plenty of time attached to my boobs both for hydration and comfort. It was a fun experience though. I was able to prove that breastfeeding mothers don’t have to miss out on doing the things we enjoy. I was able to see almost all the bands I wanted to and my son really enjoyed boobing to Epica and dancing to Ghost.
I was able to prove that breastfeeding mothers don’t have to miss out on doing the things we enjoy.
I’ve always found the metal community to be very welcoming and inclusive. Not a single person batting an eyelid at me walking around with a toddler in my arms happily boobing away as we moved between stages. Factoring in the heatwave and the long queues for the water pumps, I’m very glad we are still breastfeeding at almost 2 years because it lessened my concerns of him getting dehydrated.” says Anna Arkle-Allchurch
You can read Anna’s breastfeeding story here.
“I spent a day at 2000 Trees Festival, a music festival, with our three month old twins. Fed in the sunshine. Had an awesome time, a totally positive experience. A wonderful festival for families!” says Liz B.
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