An MP is campaigning for all football clubs in Scotland to declare their stadiums breastfeeding-friendly.
Alison Thewliss, the SNP MP for Glasgow Central, has written to all 42 league clubs north of the border to press her case that it "need not be a taboo issue".
The Motherwell supporter said she was inspired to do so by championship side Ayr United, which recently declared its Somerset Park stadium a breastfeeding-friendly ground.
The lifelong football fan is now encouraging other clubs to follow suit.
She said the move has already received a "fantastic" reaction, with more than half of the clubs saying they are taking up the initiative.
Breastfeeding in public places has been a legally protected right in Scotland since 2005.
Ms Thewliss said places that declare themselves breastfeeding-friendly give additional reassurance to mothers.
She said: "Football crowds have changed a lot over the years and stadiums are becoming a much more family-friendly environment. The vast majority of clubs understand the need to build future generations of fans."
The MP told how she took her son to Motherwell's Europa League game against Aalesund when he was a month old.
"I was a bit nervous about doing so, but was very much supported by my family and neighbouring fans," she said.
"I've had a positive experience at Scotland games too, and I would encourage all clubs to play their part."
Ms Thewliss added: "By making a positive declaration that stadiums are breastfeeding-friendly, this will go some way to letting people know that breastfeeding is normal and need not be a taboo issue.
"With the exception of one or two clubs, the initial response from the majority of Scottish football clubs has been absolutely fantastic and it's encouraging that so many folk are uniting to make Scottish football a breastfeeding-friendly environment".
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel