Breastfeeding mother has expert response to stranger who told her to 'cover up'

Melanie Dudley was feeding her son in a restaurant in Mexico, but despite having her back to the other diners, one felt the need to tell her to 'cover up'.

Unfortunately for this stranger and his unsolicited advice, Melanie did cover up... but not in the way he expected.

She put her nursing cover, which it was too hot to use, over her head as she continued to breastfeed.

Her iconic response was shared to Facebook by Carol Lockwood, who wrote: "A friend's daughter-in-law was told to 'cover up' while feeding her baby, so she did!

"I've never met her, but I think she's AWESOME!!!"

"To reduce speculation: it was a man who asked her to cover up, it was 90 degrees and extremely humid, and, no, she wasn't in a Muslim country disrespecting traditions."

The post didn't go unnoticed on Facebook, and it wasn't long before a whopping 136K people had liked it and nearly a quarter of a million had shared it.

The comments section was flooded with support for the breastfeeding mum and condemnation for the stranger who shamed her.

One Facebook user wrote: "He's a pervert for even looking at them."

"One of the most natural acts should not be looked upon with anything but respect for the woman taking care of her child," added a second.

"Tell that plonker!!" wrote a third. "We're in the 21st Century now not the dark ages. Breast feeding is normal and natural to most people now days so... DEAL WITH IT OK!! [sic]."

"Good for her. There are women who were less than that on the beach," remarked a fourth while a fifth added: "You go mama!!!!! Perfect."

"I'm usually discreet but we were seated in the back of the restaurant.

"I did have the cover on, but it was so hot. It was like, 95 degrees, and my little baby was sweating," she said. "I said, 'You know what? I'm on vacation, I'm taking this off'."

Melanie revealed she was 'kind of stunned' when she was told to cover up.

"I just put it over my head. I don't know why. It wasn't like a salacious fight or anything. That was just my response. I had no words so I thought, I'll just cover my head instead."