I swear, The Bump is a source of good debate material! Yesterday there was quite the heated argument about nursing in public on one of the boards. I was surprised to see that while most women support nursing, about 50 percent supported nursing in public without a cover. I saw post after post stating that women who are nursing should use a cover or a blanket.
This is such an interesting argument to me. I wholeheartedly support breastfeeding. I really hope that I am successful this time around as I was not with my son. He had reflux issues, had to be "taught" how to eat and I suffered from constant supply issues. I pumped almost exclusively for 6 months and then had to start introducing formula.
I only successfully nursed in public once. I remember feeling so scared that someone would comment but in retrospect, Portland is so liberal that it is doubtful anyone would have spoken up. I used a cover and tried to be discreet. Afterwards I felt so confident in myself! The opportunites to nurse in public were very far and few between for me but when they did present themselves, I always tried to keep other people in mind. I used a cover, or left the room if I thought I would make anyone uncomfortable. This was due to my own body image issues, not because I thought people would be offended by nursing.
I wish more people would be accepting of breastfeeding in general. If more people would accept it, nursing in public wouldn't be such a huge issue. I plan on trying again and if I am able to nurse successfully, I will have no issue nursing with or without a cover depending on how my baby tolerates it. I just have to get over some of my body issues first ; )
I can't do it. I did it in my car once but covered him with a blanket and just peeked in. If I do it at other people's houses I go into another room with a door and let everyone know what I'll be doing so nobody comes in. I don't know why, I just can't do it in public. I hope you can do it second time around! I never got to with Kayleigh and had to pump for a couple months before I gave up because my supply was so bad. It started out so good with Carter this time around and everything was great until some issues I had tanked my supply. I'm now supplementing but able to BF about half the day. I get upset sometimes that I have to give him formula, but then remind myself that I'm over 4 months in and still able to BF half the time and that's AWESOME. Such a big change from last time. Hope it works that way for you too. :)
ReplyDeleteI nursed in public with Ella all of the time when she was younger. I used a cover unless we were in the car, then it was my space and if you wanted to look in, that was at your own risk. It's a natural thing for me and if people want to comment, I have a few choice words that I can redirect right at them. =)
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