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Breastfeeding
breast feeding in public!
im going to try breast feeding but have some questions. 1st what do u do when ur in puplic and ur baby starts fussing cause it is timew to eat and at family get togethers when u dont feel comfortable doing it. 2nd what about over night visits to grandmas? and about when do u stop breast feedingm thanks
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Re: breast feeding in public!
I feed my baby. The best way to get comfortable with nursing in public is to nurse in public.
I don't let LO spend the night at Grandma's. She spends lots of time with her grandparents, but she will not spend the night until she weans. I don't like pumping and only did it when necessary. Overnights with relatives are not necessary for my daughter.
Third, we are still breastfeeding. When you wean is between you and your baby.
Good luck!
If I'm in public, I feed the baby. It became second nature really quickly to just get it done - I was feeding him while paying for my optometrist appointment when he was about 2 weeks old. You can get a cover if it makes you more comfortable. If I don't want to feed the baby in front of someone (honestly, I don't enjoy bf-ing in front of my FIL or dad, and it makes my BIL squirmy to admit I have boobs) I just go to another room. Or I just start getting myself together and the uncomfortable get the hint and leave for a bit.
No overnight visits to anyone here. I can't imagine being away from him yet. He's a terrible sleeper and I wouldn't subject anyone else to it. There will be many years in the future to stay over with grandma.
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Well, we don't really have the hang of everything yet because dd has some eating issues so I have to end up pumping some anyways so if in public I currently give her a bottle of expressed breast milk. Once we get comfortable and I am no longer having to pump to get her all she needs I'll just nurse her in public I suppose. Around family I nurse her, I just use a cover if it is someone I don't want seeing my boobs since we aren't real stealthy yet. I want to breast feed her as long as possible, but I've set myself a minimum 8 week goal. If some of our issues have not been resolved by then I'll have to reevaluate if it is all worth it since going through all the trouble right now is really, really hard with another child to care for too. I would love for all the issues to be resolved and make it to at least a year which is what the AAP recommends.
Edit: I forgot to add about overnights. Chances are she won't stay overnight with anyone for a while. If she does and it is while I am still nursing her, I'll just send pumped bottles of milk with her. It was really hard for me to part with ds for a night, and I'm sure I'll have the same issue this time. They're so little for a short period, having a year with them in the house everynight isn't really an inconvenience to me.
If i need to I will nurse in public, but only with a cover... and most likely i will hunt out a bathroom or changing room. I dont like being exposed but at the same time LO is most important. I'm starting to pump so if we are going to be out for a long time and I know i wont have a good place to nurse then I will just bring bottles.
Around family I go in another room or get under a blanket.
As for staying overnight. LO wont be staying overnight anywhere without me for a long while. We went to visit IL's last night and stayed the night, all of us. The good thing about not pumping much is I have to be with her for her to eat. And I'm only going topump enough for DH to feed her once at night (since he is up later than I am), and eventually to feed her twice while I'm at work.
1st what do u do when ur in puplic and ur baby starts fussing cause it is timew to eat- I feed him. I have a nursing cover. In the early days, when I needed to drop everything and nurse when he was hungry (he's old enough to eat fruit when we're out on the go and be okay), I wore nursing tanks under shirts to keep the belly exposure limited.
and at family get togethers when u dont feel comfortable doing it. Go in the other room. Or cover with a blanket.
2nd what about over night visits to grandmas? DS has never spent the night away from home without me. I wouldn't allow that, though I do travel for work and I have a freezer stash and DH would do bottle feedings when I was OOT.
and about when do u stop breast feeding- when they are full? Or do you mean for good? DS is 13 months and still BF 1-3x a day.
1) I just always breastfed in public. It took us months to have reasonably-lengthed nursing sessions (they were an hour or so each for the first 1-2 months) so I would never have been able to go anywhere if I didn't do it in public and/or with people around when they were visiting us. So I got used to it, and kept doing it even when I could have scheduled being out around the sessions (which is the case now: LO is 1 yr old, nurses for 10ish min, and nurses just a few times a day.)
I'd recommend feeding your baby when your baby calls for it. If you are not comfortable doing it in public, go to a bathroom or just don't leave home. Seriously, a hungry newborn needs to be fed within 5-10 min (hopefully less if you can manage.) An older baby can wait it out, though. So I'd recommend getting comfortable and using a cover if needed.
2) I'd try to leave overnight visits out of the picture until LO is old enough to take a bottle. Usually 6 weeks is the bottle guideline and I say don't wait much longer or LO will never take one. We had to introduce one earlier (in fact, in the first week) because of weight gain issues and didn't have a problem with nipple confusion. Every time I've left home overnight I've just pumped and DH fed LO bottles in my absence. I have left LO 4 times. Only once was when he was young enough for DH to have to wake at night to feed him. The other times were in the past few months so DH didn't have to feed him overnight.
3) We are still BFing, though it is a bit less than before. I don't know when we'll wean, but one limit is that I would like to wean before TTC again (though some people BF while pregnant).
If you're asking how long sessions should be, it is hard to say...but I'd say when the baby stops, the breast(s) is/are soft, etc...you just figure it out. Doing a time limit doesn't always work for the baby that is super slow like ours was (or super fast).
1st what do u do when ur in puplic and ur baby starts fussing cause it is timew to eat- When he's hungry, I feed him. I find a nice place to sit - chair/bench/etc. I have a nursing cover and use it. If I'm at a park or someplace open I'll plop down on the ground. I'll feed him in the car if I have to, but I hate feeding in the car. It gets hot and crowded in there.
and at family get togethers when u dont feel comfortable doing it. I use my nursing cover. Used it last night at a big family dinner and it was funny because my relatives couldn't figure out what was going on. "Oh is someone sleeping?" "Are you hiding him under there?"
2nd what about over night visits to grandmas? We don't do overnight visits yet. My mom wants to wait until he's weaned.
and about when do u stop breast feeding- Your call, but the longer the better.
im going to try breast feeding but have some questions.
1st what do u do when ur in puplic and ur baby starts fussing cause it is timew to eat
By public I mean at a restaurant and shopping etc. At restaurants I choose tables with booths so my back isn't exposed and I use a nursing cover.
I always keep a thin cardigan handy so I can wear it and lift up my shirt to nurse and not show my tummy or back. There is a tank called an undercover mama that you can attach to nursing bras that will also do the same thing, but I am broke
. Also I love my bebe au lait nursing cover.
If you go to Babies R Us they often have a mom's room with a rocking chair changing table. A lot of new malls have them too if you look for them. If there is a quiet bench I will nurse on that. Otherwise, I just ask any baby or maternity store if I can use their changing room to nurse. Even if you aren't a customer they won't say no (at least I haven't experienced that yet.
If I am at church (and I go to a P(resbyteria) C(hurch) USA church so they are pretty easy going) I nurse in the cry room with a cover. A friend of mine who visited our church has a real calm baby and she just nursed him in the sanctuary with a cover.
I know that in the state of IL you can nurse anywhere legally without a cover or any thing and sue if they don't let you except in a place of worship.
In MO and KS you can nurse anywhere you are legally allowed to be
and at family get togethers when u dont feel comfortable doing it.
It depends. I dicovered that my FIL and BIL don't care. They just turns on Sports Center and do their own thing. I don't even use a cover! At a recent get together with MH's family I just went to the sun room (no one was there) nursed. His uncle walked in on me, he just smiled and said hello and then left. But his family are just so easy going that way, I know they are the exception.
Most of the time I would just ask the 'lady of the house' if there is a room where you could nurse and I am sure she would oblige.
2nd what about over night visits to grandmas?
I haven't left LO overnight yet. We were thinking about doing it so we could go to a nearby hotel and have a fun date night. Unfortunately LO wakes up every 90 mins to 2 hrs so I didn't think I could do that to them (LO or my MIL).
and about when do u stop breast feedingm
Mmm... I think I will try for a year. If you have to start formula it doesn't make sense to stop BFing if you still can (IMO). It's not what the baby naturally eats, it's not the best for the baby and money is tight at our house since LO came. But that's the best case, I hope my supply keeps up once I start going back to school.
Of course I will try offering him solids at 6 months (if he shows the signs of being ready) but still keep BM as his main source of nutrition.
After a year I may try to encourage LO to wean of the breast, but nothing too drastic.
thanks
Your welcome! GL! Hope I wasn't too rambling!!!
When she's hungry, I feed her. I don't even bother with the cover-up things anymore. I've nursed her in front of family & friends (including males) and I think it's great they can see it in action. I've nursed her in public places before and have found a few places (like my favorite yoga studio & coffee shop) where a lot of other nursing moms go, so it's not uncommon to see someone breastfeeding just hanging out at those establishments.
Breastmilk is the healthiest food for your baby, and there shouldn't be anything uncomfortable about feeding a hungry child. People who formula feed don't have to go and hide, so why should I??
I pump milk at work for daycare & when her daddy takes her. And occasionally she's gotten formula when I haven't been able to pump enough. But I'd say she's 90% breastfed.
I plan to continue nursing for at least a year. The World Health Organization recommends 2 years. She'll eat solids but I still want her getting her milk from me.