First Forays into Nursing in Public

I never really thought I'd be such a breastfeeding advocate. I especially never thought I'd be comfortable or even excited about nursing in public but I am. Maybe I should've known though. When I was little I had meningitis and after I recovered I had to be put in home care while my parents worked. A lovely family took care of me and the mother breastfed her children so I was exposed to breastfeeding at a young age. My mother likes to tell me about the time she found me carrying one of my stuffed animals around under my shirt. She asked me what I was doing and I told her I was "giving my baby her noonie." I love that story! I always knew I wanted to breastfeed but I'm fairly self-conscious and didn't think I'd be comfortable nursing in public. Well all that has changed! Nursing my sweet little baby is the most natural thing on earth and if anyone has a problem with that, too bad!

Little Annabelle is 8 weeks old now and I've nursed in public three times so far (four if you include the time I nursed her while we took a walk around the neighborhood). The first time I used a nursing cover and it was hot and I didn't really like it. The second time was at my friend's wedding this weekend. I had worried for a few weeks about what I'd wear because I needed to be dressed up but didn't have a nursing dress nor did I want to spend a fortune buying one. I found a stretch knit dress at Target for $25 that had two drappy panels in the front with a second layer behind. Using my brilliant ingenuity (said tongue-in-cheek), I cut 2 slits in the second layer that were easily accessed by pulling either of the front panels to the side and, voila! Cheap nursing dress! I'm so proud of myself for that one (I got kudos from the hubster too!). I comfortably nursed several times during the ceremony and reception and no one was the wiser.





The third time I nursed in public was yesterday while hubby and I were standing in the checkout line at Wegmans. Annabelle had slept through the entire food shopping excursion and woke at the end hungry. She started fussing and I thought she might be okay until we left but then the full-on crying started. Luckily, I'd practiced nursing in my sling so like an old pro I did a little adjusting and, bada-bing bada-boom, my little nursling was latched on and content as could be. I was very proud of myself for this one. You could definitely tell I was nursing and I'm glad. People need to see more of that. Now that I've got some practice under my belt I feel very confident nursing out in public and can't wait to do it again!