Mum furious after Ryanair staff tell her to stop breastfeeding on flight

29 May 2019, 11:52

By Mared Parry

@maredparry

The embarrassed mum has spoken out about the traumatic ordeal on her flight.

Mum of two Rachel Duffy has been left embarrassed by her treatment on a Ryanair flight after breastfeeding her baby.

Rachel, from Yorkshire recently flew from Manchester to Faro, Portugal on one of the budget airline's flights and she has described her anger towards the company.

The 40-year-old was flying with her 14-year-old-son, Nathan and her 7-month-old baby and decided she would breastfeed her young baby during takeoff.

Rachel had recently read that breastfeeding your child during takeoff could reduce the eat discomfort caused by cabin pressure, so reckoned it'd be worth a try.

She reported that she'd successfully done so, but that she was stopped by a member of the cabin crew who ordered her to stop breastfeeding, and stood there waiting for Rachel to stop doing so until she moved on.

Rachel said: "The air steward came over and told me that I couldn’t feed my son, which was shocking as I had been fine on the Ryanair flight just 10 days earlier".

Read more: Stacey Solomon shares breastfeeding image after birth of son

The frustrated mum continued: "The steward stood and watched while I struggled to sit my baby up – who started to cry – and continued to stand there until I had re-dressed myself."

After this, Rachel tried again during the descent to Manchester but was stopped again by staff.

She explained: "“I was really shocked, angry and embarrassed by the situation – I continued to breastfeed during the rest of the flight, but I was told to stop again before landing

"It’s left me incredibly anxious and nervous to fly again – and I won’t be doing so with Ryanair"

“When I flew to Portugal from Manchester, on a Ryanair flight, I was allowed to breastfeed during take-off and landing,” she said. 

“No one said anything to me, even when they were doing the seatbelt checks.

“It’s made me very angry and others that I have spoken to are disgusted with Ryanair.

“It made our flight very difficult and uncomfortable.”

Ryanair commented: “Breastfeeding mothers are very welcome onboard our flights.”