Kerre Woodham: Spare us from the militancy of the breast-is-best fanatics

I loved breastfeeding. It came naturally, thank God, and the sheer bliss of feeding my baby, cradling her in my arms and breathing in the smell of the base of her neck, meant total happiness and completeness.

It was also incredibly convenient - no sterilising of bottles, no faffing around waiting for the milk to reach the right temperature.

So I'm all for breastfeeding, but I am growing increasingly suspicious of breastfeeding militants who want to shove their orthodoxy, like a great big milky breast, down our collective throat. These are the women who insist that mothers persevere with breastfeeding even when the poor things are in agony with mangled nipples, pathetic milk supply and exhaustion. They harangue these mothers, telling them they just have to keep trying, as the babies scream with hunger and the women weep with a sense of failure.

I'm not a fan of legislating to punish people who disapprove of breastfeeding in public. I think anyone who finds it repulsive to see a mother feeding her baby should spend time on a psychiatrist's couch - but legislation is not going to make the sight any more acceptable to these freaks.

To be fair, I have heard a couple of horror stories. Like the one about the woman who was trying to get her baby to feed while she was in a cafe, and dunked her whopping great hooter into the sugar bowl to make the baby latch on. And I do think that once babies have grown into little people who can walk, talk and bite, the sight of them breastfeeding while standing is unexpected.

But a little bit of tolerance all round is what's required. If you can't cope with the sight of a woman performing the most natural act in the world, don't look. If a mother has tried and failed to breastfeed, just leave her alone with her sterilising unit and her bottles and stop making her feel like a failure. And please, leave the Government out of our nursing bras.