A London Breastfeeding Flashmob!

This afternoon Charlotte and I hopped on a bus and headed up to Paddington Station.  We were headed to participate in our first ever flashmob!

For those of you unfamiliar with flashmobs, they basically involve a group of people making some sort of unexpected performance in public.  There are loads of YouTube videos (like this one to music from the Sound of Music in Belgium) of choreographed dances, songs and even opera scenes sprung on unsuspecting grocery shoppers and cafeteria patrons.  (My personal favorite is when Oprah's audience surprised her with a flashmob during a live broadcast.  For some reason it always makes me cry!  You can watch the video here.)

I can't entirely remember how I found out about the booby flashmob, but I think I may have stumbled upon it while looking for a breastfeeding support group I had heard was on Facebook (The Leaky B@@b).  I signed up for the "UK's Biggest Breastfeeding Flashmob" Facebook page and made a note of the date in my calendar.

As the day drew nearer, I wasn't entirely sure if I was going to participate, but then I heard of a woman in Hampstead who was kicked out of a pub for breastfeeding her baby.   She was told that "people are trying to eat".  Huh?  What?  I decided in that moment that I would definitely join the flashmob.

Charlotte and I arrived at the station about fifteen minutes before the flashmob was scheduled to start.  I saw a lot of moms and babies wandering around and started chatting with a group of them. 

At 2:00 on the dot, all the moms made their way into a big open space and began to sit on the floor.  (I didn't think ahead enough to bring a blanket so I borrowed some space from another mom.)  Once I got Charlotte settled I was able to get some shots of what was going on.

My favorite shot is of this guy who was so caught up in his phone that he didn't realize he was in the middle of a flashmob!

He started laughing once he realized what was going on. 

And that was basically it!  There were lots of moms and babies and boobies.  I have gotten more comfortable breastfeeding in public without my Hooter Hider (yes, it is really called that) and this helped me feel even more confident about it. 

There were a number of people from the press there, so I'm hoping it might make the news.  Here is a shot of some of the photographers after the mob was wrapping up:

Afterwards, Charlotte and I joined some other moms at Hyde Park.  Charlotte took her first ride on a swing!  She loved it!