Do You Cover Up While Breastfeeding in Public?

Do You Bother to Cover Up While Breastfeeding in Public?

September 30, 2010

Hiding a postpartum boob has become a lucrative industry! Everything from capes to shawls and covers to nursing apparel designed with a mom's modesty in mind have hit the market. Easy access tanks and elaborate wearable contraptions that hide the breast from the public while allowing mama to maintain eye contact with her babe can be costly. Do you bother with these items or just go natural?

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9 Comments

mrsrinehart10 1 year 8 weeks

honestly no i dont I feel if there are adult who are rude sloppy talk with there mouth full eaters are allowed to eat with out covering the my daughte should be able to aswell.

aembry396 2 years 33 weeks

I like to cover a little. The shawls and capes never seemed to work well, but I always have one of those thin receiving blankets with me to kind let her cuddle/cover a little...it is also good for spit up. it makes me feel a little better to cover if there is a quick unlatch or relatch.

2 years 33 weeks

I'm with everyone up there. I've ever nursed sans cover walking through IKEA and no one so much as glanced twice. The one time I tried to cover up - for warmth, mind you - he yanked it off and proceeded to fling it around while he was nursing. Yeah. Subtle.

FrankiLee 2 years 33 weeks

I have to agree with all of the previous posters. It's not that I didn't "bother" to cover up, but when your child is blocking pretty much anything someone might find "offensive," I didn't find it necessary. I tried using a cover in the early stages of nursing, but my daughter just tried to flip the cover off and was yanking on it, so it was more of a distraction for her and more troublesome for me. I would just discreetly pull up my top, like starbucks said, and my daughter would latch on!

starbucks 2 years 33 weeks

I've never used a cover. As soon as you get the hang of it, it's not like you whip your boob out and have it hanging there for a minute before the baby's ready to drink. I never flashed anyone, I just discretely pulled up my shirt a bit.

2 years 33 weeks

I don't use a cover because I've found that every time I tried to cover with a blanket, I got far more stares than when I went without. Most people can't even tell you're nursing when you don't use a cover. It just looks like you're holding a sleeping baby. When you use a cover, though, it screams, "BABY NURSING UNDER HERE!" I have no desire to be exposed at all and, like Anonymous up there said, I AM covered when I'm nursing because my kids keep me covered.

lawchick 2 years 33 weeks

I would cover up because I am a very modest person; however, I don't think it should be a legal requirement or anything like that. I've NEVER seen a woman nursing in public in Mississippi or elsewhere I've been in the south, though - covered or uncovered. I think it's still very taboo here to nurse in public, even covered. It's even very rare that I've seen nursing friends/family nurse in their own homes. They almost always go to another room.

2 years 33 weeks

Again, I'm not voting because there's not an "other" option. It's not that I don't "bother" to cover up, it's that it's much more of a bother and way more attention-getting to attempt a cover. My children have all screamed and yanked it off repeatedly, assuring a full boob shot for the entire viewing audience. If I don't cover, they latch on quietly and cover the the majority of the breast, revealing less than a low cut shirt would. So actually yeah, I guess I "bother" to cover, because my children have all acted as a cover.

MissSushi 2 years 33 weeks

I didn't breastfeed, but if I had i would have covered up simply because I don't like being stared at. I don't dress flashy, make a lot of noise, etc for the same reason. I do, however, think its a sad and disgusting state of things that we have allowed them to become such sexual objects that the general population feels uncomfortable with them to the point of enforcing people, either socially or legally, to cover a baby while eating. This is just another reason women allowing any sort of media (movies, magazines, porn, strip clubs, etc) to treat them as sexual objects instead of people is such a horrible idea. I'm not against any of those things, just the current content of them as far as objectifying goes.

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