Breastfeeding in public with a new baby can be very intimidating. Your baby is screaming, you are fumbling with your clothes and you are imagining that every disapproving eye in the place is on you. It can me the situation feel very stressful. Here are few ideas to help ease the stress and make nursing in public relaxing and natural for you and your baby.

1.  Wear clothes that are designed for easy access.  Many companies have come out with a line of nursing that allows easy access to the breast with minimum exposure of the rest of the body.  It is possible to breastfeed without ever exposing your breast to anyone other than the baby. Many mothers are more comfortable with this as they aren’t intending to become exhibitionists while feeding their babies. An alternative is to wear shirt that are a bit bigger than you would usually wear. When you pull up your shirt to nurse, you still have enough material to stay covered. This worked for me. I was less concerned with exposing my breast than I was with showing off my still floppy post-pregnancy stomach.

3.  Approach the situation nonchalantly. Scope out the place when you get there and find a spot where you will be comfortable nursing. I also found that getting settled before my babies were in full hunger freak out mode helped to make me more relaxed. Most people won’t even notice what you are doing and wander on by.

4.   Some people feel more comfortable if they cover the nursing baby with a receiving or nursing blanket. This is definitely an individual choice, usually the baby’s. If this works for you, it can help make you feel more “protected”. Unfortunately for me, all of my babies screamed and clawed at the blanket so it definitely varies from person to person.

5.  Notice who is around you when picking a place to nurse. You will definitely feel more relaxed if you don’t feel like you are going to have to fight about your right to breastfeed. I was probably being unfair, but I avoided spots where older men were nearby. I felt like they would be less approving and I didn’t want to sit there imagine what they were thinking. I might have been totally wrong but by choosing places where I felt comfortable made the experience less stressful for me.

6.  Practice at home before you take the show on the road.  Learning to handle the special clothes and accessories, designed to make breastfeeding in public more comfortable for you and the baby and less intrusive to the public, can take some time.  Practice your holds and use the clothes when you are at home so that you will be prepared when you go out.

In the beginning, it can be intimidating to breastfeed in public but after a few times, it will seem like old hat.

Contributed by:

Jo Dempsey is the co-creator of SpiffyMoms.com. She is also the busy mom of 3 young girls.