where to nurse in public?

wifey26 · January 2011

ok, so i'm a new mom of a 3 week old and i know at some point i'm going to need to venture out and nurse in public. but i admit, i'm a little modest and really do not see myself nursing on a bench in the middle of the mall!

so what do the rest of you do? i've heard ridgedale has a nice nursing lounge, but what about everywhere else...target, other malls, etc?! i know it's going to happen since my son would like to eat 24/7 and i guess i want to be prepared, but have no idea what mothers do or where they go in a public place to preserve a little modesty and privacy. any suggestions?

harleyjo · January 2011

I haven't run into this yet, but my mom tells me to go into the dressing rooms at Target, department stores, etc. to nurse. Sounds like that would work to me!

MrsGo4Hockeychick · January 2011

I looked for restrooms with chairs in them, or would ask for a dressing room at first. After a couple of months I realized it was a huge PITA and just nursed wherever I needed to.

Once I learned how to nurse in the ergo, I would nurse while shopping or walking the mall.

big_noise · January 2011

I've only done it a bit since I'm mostly pumping for DD now but I got a bebe au lait and really like it. It's been handy even for family gatherings when I wanted to still be part of the party but not necessarily yank my boob out in front of everyone.

www.bebeaulait.com

Fuzzy8252 · January 2011

If there wasn't a nursing room or private area, I would often find a quiet corner where there weren't a lot of people. Say like a quiet area of a food court in the mall. I actually did it more so because DD woudn't nurse in a noisy area.

Honestly, you get over it fairly soon. I even ended up nursing on a flight. When you've got a screaming, hungry baby... you'll do just about anything! GL and keep it up. I found that BFing was one of the most rewarding decisions I've ever made.

Sunshine2121 · January 2011

Congratulations on your new baby! i am also a new mommy and went through the same thing. At the Mall, Macy's typically have a lounge that you can sit in and nurse which is seperate from the bathroom. I have nursed a lot in the Target change rooms. In the summer, I also nursed in the back of my car and that worked well. Good luck!

sensoregurl · January 2011

The MOA has an awesome women's lounge on the 3rd floor in Nordstrom's.

That being said, I got over it pretty quick too and will nurse my baby anywhere.

I learned to nurse in the ergo too - it's really great and nobody knows you're nursing! I wasn't able to do it well until he was about 4 months old though - it's hard when they're really little.

Jessica011010 · January 2011

Eden Prairie mall has a nice nursing lounge.

tag7430 · January 2011

Herbergers at Rosedale has a private nursing/changing room (with a lock) on the first level by guest services - my guess is other Herbergers would have a similar room as well. I did most of my nursing while out and about in the backseat of my car.

ElizabethD · January 2011

I agree on the "learn to get over it." For ME the biggest aha moment was learning to cop a feel under the blanket and get my babies latched on without having to LOOK. That way you've got a blanket, you keep eye contact with whomever you're chatting with, and nobody knows what baby and mom are doing under the blanket.

I've been everywhere nursing... in front of a busy hotel, in a car (desperate and a passanger in the back seat obviously), chatting on planes with strange men while nursing (they never knew or cared), on benches, at restaurant tables.

The only place I refused to nurse - a bathroom. That's nasty, inconvenient, and actually (IMO) annoying for women who want the stall to actually use it!

I nursed for 22 months between two babies. It's awesome!

BeccaMarie · January 2011

ElizabethD:
in a car (desperate and a passanger in the back seat obviously)

Not picking on you personally - I know as mommas we do what we have to do, and what we think is best at the time.

You don't say if baby was still in car seat or not, but I have a sad story - a former co-worker was on a road-trip and her DD got hungry, so she took her out of her car seat to nurse. Well, the driver of the car lost control when the car hit some sand on a curve. The force of almost any more-than-minor car accident is too much for a mom to continue holding her baby. Her DD was ejected from the car and didn't survive the accident. The what-ifs are so sad here, and it could happen again to another mom so easily, that I really just want to remind people that you should NEVER remove your child from their car seat while traveling in the car.

(Again, not trying to pick on your choices at all - for all I know your LO was rear-facing and the seats were such that you could both stay buckled and just lean forward or something. Your post just provided an opportunity for me to post this reminder.)

BeccaMarie · January 2011

I agree with the PPs that after awhile you will just get over it. I nursed everywhere without a second thought. I got way more smiling moms/grandmas than embarrassed men (most of the time they have no clue what you are doing)

If my DD ever needed a quite place to nurse while we are the MOA though, I always headed to the Carters there - they have a really nice nursing/changing room with a rocking chair and they even stock small-size diapers for moms to use.

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