A NEW mum said she was reduced to tears after a café customer insulted her because she was breastfeeding her eight-week-old daughter Dulcie.

Nikki Davis, 32, of Cambridge Road, Lawford, moved to the village with her husband, Tom, to start a family.

But despite loving her new home, Nikki said the encounter has knocked her confidence.

She said: “I met two friends from my National Childbirth Trust class.

"We’ve all recently had babies so wanted to meet up to support each other at the café at Mistley Park Place.

“We settled ourselves in the quieter part of the cafe out of the way. We are all breastfeeding so fed our babies.

“I then overheard a woman describe us to her family as the ‘Mammary brigade’ and stated we were ‘putting her off her teacake’ by breastfeeding our babies. This was really distressing to hear and actually made me cry.”

After collecting their belongings, Nikki and a friend bumped into the complainant and explained how her comments had upset her.

Nikki said: “The woman responded stating she found it offensive and we should feed our babies in the toilet.

“This whole incident has really knocked my confidence as a new mum.

“It really is difficult, which is why the UK has the lowest breastfeeding rates in the world, with only one per cent of babies still being exclusively breastfed at six months despite the health benefits of breast feeding.

“My main hope is that people will just be kind to breastfeeding mums and realise it is a tough job and we are doing our best.

“Ostracising us for doing something so natural does cause a lot of upset and has the potential to stop mums breastfeeding despite the health benefits to babies.”

Nikki is encouraging businesses to register as baby friendly locations to welcome breastfeeding mums.

Peter Taylor, owner of Mistley Place Park Café, said breastfeeding mums were welcome. He said: “We have got no problem with women breast feeding at all as it’s just a natural thing to do.”