Let's talk breastfeeding ...

In public.

Yay or nay?
My son is 18 months and we have been long over breastfeeding. We made it to almost five months. I am proud of that. I wouldn't have minded if I could have nursed him longer but it made me so extremely exhausted and frustrated the majority of the time and I hated not knowing if my son was getting enough to eat. His weight was more than enough proof that he was just fine but I really hated the not knowing exactly how much he was getting. And there were times I felt like he was attached to me all day.

I even nursed in public a few times. I was never good at it so more often than not, I would have to excuse myself to nurse privately. It made me much more comfortable to nurse privately because I would have hated for one of the ladies to put on a show. And honestly, I was all over the place when it came to nursing and so was my son. He hated being covered up and would often flail his arms and legs to move the nursing cover away from his face. He also made lots of slurping sounds. Yea, that's not really a way I wanted to get attention. I applaud mommies and their babies who are able to nurse publicly.

I am on a rampage about this right now because of a blogger I follow. Jessica of The Mom Creative ran into this problem yesterday. You can read about it here. I have problems with how this situation turned out. I know people get uncomfortable seeing women nurse their babies. BUT, if they are completely covered and you cannot see a single thing, please tell me what the issue is because it really confuses me. Seriously, people probably wouldn't even know what was going on if it weren't for cute little baby feet hanging out of the side of the nursing cover.

Now, I am not a fan of someone just whipping it out and not even trying to be remotely discreet. For example, I worked in retail as a college student. The company I worked for sold children's furniture (beds, dressers etc). I had a customer come in with her baby, plop down on a bed and just whip it out. No joke. She made herself at home that's for sure.  She made no attempt to cover herself or face a part of the store where she could be a bit more private. She even started up a conversation with me. I was very uncomfortable but only because she let it all hang out. Luckily, we didn't have any other customers in the store. I'm not really sure what I would have done if we did. She turned out to be one of my favorite customers ... but I saw a little too much of her than I wanted.

I do think there is an acceptable and appropriate way to nurse in public. And I wish everyone would quit getting their panties bunched up over this. A baby has to eat just as much (in fact more) as me and you do.

So, what's your stance? Do you have a problem with nursing in public?

Boobie Beanie