So, I never judge anyone on their preference/choice of whether or not to bottle or breastfeed as this is a personal choice and a lot of people have medical reasons as to why they can or cannot feed both ways. But the other day I’m with this grown 40-something year old woman and her 13 year old daughter (who unfortunately happen to be my aunt and cousin) when the mother asks me which I plan to do with my baby. I am a very big advocate for breastfeeding and plan to do everything in my power to do this for my child and I. So I respond by saying I will breast feed. This grown woman and her daughter begin to laugh and criticize me saying how gross it is, the daughter thanks the mom for “never putting her through that” and they continue to make gag noises and try to lecture me about how gross I am.

Needless to say I wanted to cry. I also wanted to tell them both off with a few choice words. Of course because of the heightened emotions and all the hormones having a party in my body right now I literally just wanted to explode! This woman also happens to be a swinger, she’s working on her second husband, and doesn’t even live in the same house as her two children. To me it’s a disgrace. A week later we stopped speaking because she got so drunk one night and told me off for no reason at all screaming and yelling in my face. She even threatened to “kick me in the belly”. This woman used to be someone who I was very close to since I lost my mom when I was 16, but now I’m at a loss of what to do. Now that I’m becoming a mother a lot of things are changing about myself and the people I need to surround myself with. Any advice on how I should handle this?