After suffering from countless ridicule and criticism from nursing in public, 22-year-old mother Charlotte Purdie from Old Basford, Nottingham has decided to open a business that would cater to mothers like her: a breastfeeding café.
Giving nursing mums a safe haven, The Milk Lounge is equipped with private feeding rooms and designated turning spaces for pushchairs. The café also sells lactation cookies with natural ingredients.
Photo credit: SWNS
Aside from all these, The Milk Lounge is also open to fathers and males.
She said that the idea came to her on the first day of her honeymoon.
“I gave birth in March last year and I couldn’t find a place that felt clean or comfortable enough to feed my baby,” she said in a Daily Mirror story.
She then got in touch with a bank to ascertain whether they could provide financial assistance; they said she’d have to raise at least a thousand pounds to turn her dream into a reality.
“Being a young mum, I asked my husband to take some time off so I could spend a few months working on the business model,” she said.
Photo credit: SWNS
“I approached a couple of funding bodies and I got offered a £25,000 investment.”
She did her research then, scouted the local schools, determined her community’s birth and breastfeeding rate.
Many people thought her idea was insane, but eventually, once the business started, the word spread and The Milk Lounge in time became an incredible business.
Despite her good intentions, however, negativity still found their way to Charlotte.
Since opening her business, she has received abusive phone calls and death threats, some of which she received in the middle of the night.
Photo credit: SWNS
But Charlotte is not backing down.
“Despite the abusive phone calls we’ve been busy with new mums and dads, older people and everyone else from the community who is supporting what we are trying to do,” she said.
She is determined to help as many mothers as she can, and give them the best breastfeeding experience possible through The Milk Lounge.
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