Do you nurse in public?

[Beka]

ok we know the majority of people think nursing in public should be a womans right and is perfectly fine but recent conversations have got me wondering how many of us actually do?

so if you bf do you nurse in public?

if you do NIP how do you do so? (do you find somewhere to sit, walk around like it?)

[Beka]

i do nurse in public and it surprised me dh and mother as they were both uncertain if i would find the confidence too (we live in an area where bfing rates are extremely low) i know several people who also NIP but all of them looked entirely perplexed at me when i was strolling around the grocery store feeding Loki as i walked and my mother threw groceries into the trolley (cart- whatever you call it) made me wonder if the majority of people find somewhere to sit down out of the way to do so.

[Kristi]

Well I am not BF right now. But when I did BF Caleb I preferred not to NIP not because I think there is something wrong with it just if there was room or somewhere we would be more comfortable than I preferred to go in there. The only places we really went in Italy esp with Caleb was the Exchange and they had BF room and it was more comfortable to sit in there . I did NIP when necessary. I had trouble walking and nursing LOL so I usually found somewhere to sit.

[Jo]

I don't anymore simply because Laura is into gymnastics. She also is just nursing for comfort during the day or for nap time. When all the girls were younger, I did all the time. I never had problem with it and I never covered up beyond using my shirt strategically. I was more embarrassed of my back fat and belly roll than I was of people seeing my boob.;)

[Beka]

I had trouble walking and nursing LOL so I usually found somewhere to sit.

i am finally finding an advantage to having good upper arms i tell you (aside from arm wrestling for beer :lmao - kidding, i'm kidding!) Loki is a little lump but having carried Dyl and Jude he seems quite light to carry and nurse at the same time even at 13lb

[Beka]

I don't anymore simply because Laura is into gymnastics. She also is just nursing for comfort during the day or for nap time. When all the girls were younger, I did all the time. I never had problem with it and I never covered up beyond using my shirt strategically. I was more embarrassed of my back fat and belly roll than I was of people seeing my boob.;)

ahhh i found away around belly roll issue Jo- i have a strappy vest top which works like a nursing bra so i wear that under my normal shirt- so to nurse normal shirt goes up, nursing top is undone and covers my dodgy stretch marks (of which there are many- tube maps have less lines than my stomach i tell you)

[Kristi]

Maybe I would be more in shape if I had learned to do it that way huh? LOL

[Meshelle]

I would nurse all my kids in public. It didn't bother me at all. I did have to nurse Jonathan while walking several times, it takes some coordination, I tell ya. LOL I usually wore nursing tops though, so my nursing was discrete. ;)

[Jurgita]

I didn't really NIP, but just because most of the malls and bigger shops ahve special place for that, so it didn't really feel like I was NIP LOL

[YourMom]

Yes! Although it's far less often with Adia now. Francesca doesn't particularly like NIP, but I do it when she asks. :)

ETA: I do it whenever, wherever. I've done it walking, sitting down, standing in line...

[Christine]

I've nursed all four of my girls in public when the need arose. I usually tried to time my outings around their feeding schedules - especially so I wouldn't be wrangling toddlers while nursing.

[Erika]

I nurse anywhere Sasha needs to be fed. I was initially uneasy and now I just don't give a toss. If she needs to be fed, I feed her, regardless of where I am. Plus there is legislation here that protects my right to breastfeed anywhere!

Thankfully I haven't had a bad experience.

[Chris]

I nursed anywhere my kids needed fed. I usually sat down for it though, I would have hurt myself or them had I tried to walk around for I'm a clumsy fool. LOL

[Lori]

I nursed Thomas in public until he was about 20 months or so. After that he nursed seldom enough that he never HAD to nurse in public, and I was also not comfortable nursing an older toddler in public. I'm totally fine with other people doing it, but I wasn't. ;) I would nurse him around friends and family, but if we were out shopping and he wanted to nurse, at that point I gave him something else to drink.

Before we moved when he was about 1-1/2, we lived in an extremely BFing friendly town, so I felt completely comfortable nursing him anywhere and everywhere, and it was rare that I'd be the only nursing mother anywhere we went. I can't imagine nursing while walking. My favorite position was sitting cross-legged, so if I was already sitting I'd just get cross-legged, put him on my lap, and start nursing, or if we were in a store, I'd try to find a quiet corner, sit myself on the floor, and feed him.

Ironically, the only time I ever had anyone make a negative comment about NIP was when I was in a bathroom! It was a women's room that had a bench in a waiting area, and I was sitting there nursing, and I got an "Ew! Gross!" comment from some women passing by. They were obviously talking about the nursing, and not about nursing in a bathroom (which *is* kind of gross :giggle). It was so ridiculous it didn't even bother me.

[Erika]

Bloody hell, I forgot to say how I fed her :giggle

I sit down to feed her. While I am starting to get the hang of sling feeding, the boobies are too big too comfortably feed on the go, without the fear of suffocation for little one!

I have also more or less got the knack down of discreetly getting the breast out and popping it in her mouth. Of course, she usually then decides to show me up by getting distracted, popping off and exposing me for all the world to see. Honestly - I don't care anymore. The odd flash of a nipple while it is being used to feed never hurt anyone.

[Kristen]

Yes, if necessary. At this point, I rarely have to do it, because we go out in between feeding times usually. I've done it a LOT when my babies were little infants and were nursing more often.

[Maleah]

I try really hard not to need to have to nurse in public unless DH is with me. I have too many kids running around with me to try to wrangle them all in one place long enough for the baby to nurse. And I can't nurse and walk to save my life.

[Kristi]

LOL @ Chris sounds like me. I could see myself tripping and dropping the baby or something :nono

[Val]

Cailin- NEVER, much too horrified by the idea of someone seeing either my awful stretchmarked tummy, or (god forbid :rolleyes) some boob

Brayden- occasionally, I always tried to cover up or go to an unpopulated area, more for my comfort than because I cared what someone else thought.

[Desirae]

I nurse whenever and whereever.:D The park, the store, a restaurant, the beach..just about anywhere. The only time I'll sneak away to a quiet place is if there are people that I KNOW are uncomfortable or lots of men I don't know (church or friends' houses). If there isn't a place to sneak away though I just nurse him. It's not like I'm flipping my boob around anyways, I'll cover up if need be and if not my shirt covers most everything.

[giffy]

Yes I have without qualm. I rarely went into the parent's room at the shopping centre. I don't any more though, because R's favourite position for feeding is standing on my lap waggling her bottom in the air, and it isn't very discreet. She also gets distracted very easily. If we are out and she wants a feed, I try to find somewhere private to go.

[Lisa]

I did once with Rhayan. She was the only one I was confortable enough with feeding that i did. It was at a mall in a crowded food court. Luckily I got no complaints.

[Kate]

I nursed in public all the time...and in all that time I never personally heard a negative comment.

The closest that I ever came to that was someone complaining about me feeding a 3 week old Maia in a coffee shop one day, because apparently even though I wasn't showing anything, and I even had my back to this person the sound of Maia nursing was supposedly putting him off his lunch, and shouldn't I be doing "that" in the bathroom anyway. Silly man, both the women working that day had been nursing mothers themselves, so their reaction was to offer to move his lunch into the bathroom for him instead.

Other than that, I've nursed on walks, on trains and buses, while walking around the supermarket. I think the one place I haven't nursed is in a public bathroom.

[Tracy]

When I BF the girls, I nursed in public when necessary. I just covered myself properly so nothing was showing.

[Polly]

Yep, I'm a "full boob out" kind of nurser. I can't cover Elizabeth's head-I had to use a nipple shield for the first 5 months of nursing because my nipples were flat and try as I (and my Lactation Consultant and my La Leche Legue leader and group) might, she couldn't latch on. I really don't care where I am. Yeah, I'd do it in church, at a funeral, or any other place where other parents would administer a bottle. I refuse to let other peoples hang up of sexualizing breasts get in the way of Elizabeth and her food. Oh, and anyone who looks at me like they want to tell me to stop or cover I usually look directly at with CONFINDENCE. Why? They don't approach you.

Polly

[MrsSuzNZ]

When I was feeding I would sit down. I wasn't confident enough to walk around doing it, but I would sit down in public and do it. :)

[Jejune]

I know that polls on a lot of parenting sites (Babycenter just had one) have shown that most moms here don't think it's very appropriate to nurse in public unless the mother is swaddled up to her neck in blankets, but I've always nursed in public and without any sort of covering.

I actually did get harassed once, but it's against the law, and I made several complaints. It actually made a local paper, though indirectly. I had a letter to the editor pointed out to me, and I said, "Hey! I'm the young mother they're talking about!" LOL

[Theo]

I nurse in public all the time - in fact, I just did it in IKEA about an hour ago. When Thomas was light enough, and not as wiggly, I would walk around with him nursing, or sit depending on how tired I was and if there was a place to sit. Now I sit with Captain Squirmypants. I usually wear a tank top under my t-shirt or sweater, and I have a batik shawl/sarong thingy that I will toss over my shoulder and breast if I am in a particularly weird place. I can't keep anything over Thomas' head or face, so I just do my best to keep my boob and, most importantly, side fat covered.

[MommyBug77]

I do nurse in public. I don't hide myself of the baby. I cover my boob but not the babies head or anything. If I am walking around than I nurse that way. If we are sitting than I nurse that way.

[Shiloh]

I can't keep anything over Thomas' head or face, so I just do my best to keep my boob and, most importantly, side fat covered.

Hee. That was always my main concern, keeping the side fat covered.

I haven't nursed in public in a while now, because Katherine gets way too distracted and I don't enjoy having her pop off and re-latch every few seconds. Especially since she usually forgets to let go first and gives my nipple a good scraping with her teeth. When she was first born I was very nervous about nursing in public, as I live in a small Southern town and can't remember ever seeing a baby being nursed here. When she was two months old I traveled to another state to meet up with some friends from another message board and had to nurse her many times in public during the meet-up and it really boosted my confidence. After that I might have been a little nervous at times, but I nursed her in public until she was about 15 months or so, and got to where she was too distracted.

I always get upset when people suggest that mothers should nurse in bathrooms or cover themselves and babies completely or not nurse in public at all. No woman should ever feel ashamed for feeding her baby.

[wendygrace]

NIP all the time. Danae is three and she really only nurses when she's tired these days so its not often but if she needs a quit 15 minute nap and I have a minute and ds is preoccupied or dh is with him then I sit down to nurse. I sit because I have huge boobs and there is no way I can walk, nurse, and hold the monstrosity. hehe. I cover up the top of the breast some but Danae likes to pull it off and play with the shirt so it doesn't help much. Noone has ever said anything to me that I have ever noticed. I nurse everywhere but bathrooms. :) I'm actually surprised noone has ever said anything as I can't be very discreet due to said boob size and dd does not look like an infant and I don't live in an area I'd call enlightened. There is no way I could ever put a blanket over Danae. She'd be pulling it off. She likes to look at me and what is going on around her until she falls asleep. I don't know how women get their children to do that.

[Jenny]

when I nursed, I always did it in public.

[Amber]

Well, not at the moment ;) But when the boys were still nursing, yes. Not walking around though--I'm FAAAAAR to uncoordinated for that.