there has been a lot of discrepancies against women breast feeding in public (even with a feeding cape on). how do you handle feeding in places like a restaurant without royally ticking people off? i personally dont see a problem with feeding in public in general, but when it comes to the "oh so superior law" who seem to have an issue with little humans being fed, i'm not sure where to go to legally feed my daughter (once she is born). the mall has a private room, but places like restaurants and such do not have a room, and i will not willingly feed her in a bathroom stall with the germs and disgusting contaminants. what can be done? (its shocking that women can now go topless but should a woman feed her baby, you can be arested... there was a recent story in the paper about a woman that was arrested cause she refused to remove herself from a public space that had nowhere private besides the bathroom, and she stated that the state of that bathroom was 'unkept')
Re: Handling Feeding outside of the house
TTC#1 for 19 months with PCOS and MFI IUI#3 + injectables = BFP!!!! Beta#1-134(13dpiui) Beta #2-392(15dpiui)
#1 born December 2011
TTC#2 - Beta #1 -51@10dpo Beta#2 -1353 @16dpo
#2 born May 2013
TTC # 3 June 2014 BFP 12-1-14
#3 born August 2015
#4!!!!!!! due June 2017
In 21 months, I've never had a negative comment in public. I few family members have been rude.
I live in the Southern US and I have never had a nasty look from someone, i have had a couple of intense stares but I just gave them the death stare back so they quickly looked away (I have a really withering death stare). I've only ever had women come up to me and congratulate me on successfully BF and for doing so in public. I did have one creeper at the laundromat ask me if my baby was going to eat soon and I did not feel comfortable nursing when he was there but the laundromat employee came over and asked me if he was bothering me and would ask him to leave! So I guess I'm lucky.
I am still nursing my toddler but after one year old I decided not to bf in public with her. I would let her have a tiny bit in the car if we were out too long somewhere but she understood that we only nursed at home now. I have a 1 month old now and I am way more bold nursing her in public than I was with my first. I nursed LO in the ring sling while shopping at goodwill and with DD1 I always waited to nurse her in the dressing room. I couldn't be bothered with a newborn and a toddler I needed to find some sweaters and she needed to eat so we had to do both!
Sometimes just being around other nursing moms can help make you less shy about it. You can also see how women nurse without baring it all (although many women are more comfortable showing more skin when surrounded by other nursing moms). I've never seen anyone actually "whip it out" in public, although personally, I have been tempted. I usually use the "2 shirt" method, wearing a tank top/cami under another shirt, and pull the bottom shirt down, top shirt up. All that's exposed is my nipple, slightly, while I get baby to latch. But I've never had full exposure in 21 months of nursing.