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I rarely nursed in public because my son refused a cover so we always had to find a semi-private place. I do have a friend that nursed her two boys until they were each around 2 or so. Throughout her nursing time she received everything from looks of disgust to comments telling her she was indecent to praise from strangers. She mostly ignored as much of it as possible but she firmly remembers every person that praised her for what she was doing and those words of praise are special to her.

I actually have a problem with how this Target story started. The woman sat down on the floor of the women's department at Target to nurse her child. Sitting on the floor of a department can be considered a hazard. I would guess a Target employee would ask anyone to move from sitting on the floor if they are in the way. The employees asked her to move to a fitting room where there was a more comfortable place to sit and she took offense. I would be PLEASED to have someone offer me a real seat in a fitting room in a private room if I needed it!

Nursing is an activity that has to happen if you are breastfeeding but I think that woman and all women need to be prepared to feed. If they're going to be out and about during a feeding time, they need to make sure they have somewhere to sit down and feed. There's always your car!

I think society is a bit backwards in their acceptance of breastfeeding. My LO doesn't usually let me have a cover on, but I wear clothing where you can't see anything but the small area of breast pulled out and thats where she is latched on.

I can't imagine just sitting down and breastfeeding in the middle of the store (yucky floor) but I have been fine with doing it at a restaurant, in church, or walking around while she was in the ergo.

I think if it becomes more popular for people to see then maybe there will be better acceptance.

Breastfeeding is far less widely done here in the UK and the National Health Service is working hard to spread the word about it's benefits. Sadly, there have been a few specials on breastfeeding on TV that have done it no favors. They have featured more extreme, in-your-face types and people who I would class as fringe, rather than more normal women who breastfeed. It just makes it seem weird, rather than a good thing.

i dunno. i personally don't feel comfortable at all when there are moms nursing in public. i think they should be more discreet and go somewhere a little more private. who knows. i haven't had my kids yet, maybe i won't care when i do. but right now, that's how i feel.

This has been happening for years and years. Even before I was pregnant and working as a server, people would make snide comments about breastfeeding mothers and how they should go to the bathroom. I got stiffed on a tip because I asked a guest if he would like his food served in the bathroom as well.

Then when I got pregnant in 2006 I heard about the nurse in's at Victoria Secrets (sales associate asked a mother to go to the bathroom instead of the dressing room.) and a nurse in at Applebees. Apparently a server asked a woman to go to the bathroom.

I don't see the problem with bf in public as long as you aren't doing it to prove a point. There are women out there who do just do it (I believe) for the attention. I BF in public all the time and never had any negative reaction. Most people didn't even know what I was doing until they wanted to see the baby and I told them that she was eating.

But the women who are expose their entire boob are the ones giving everyone else a bad name. I watched a women in Sam's Club basically remove her shirt to breastfeed. I was like um...it's not that serious. You can't take your shirt off in a store without breastfeeding so what makes you *her* think it's okay to do it with a baby?

@Rubies: I think that's a bit unfair and extreme to say that if ANY skin is exposed then it's uncomfortable. We live in a crazy society where women walk around in low cut shirts and push up bras all the time.

@Thehistoryofus: When I'm using the mother's nursing room at a mall or something, all of us women are exposed and it's totally fine. It's just uncomfortable to me if I'm walking down the street and a woman is breastfeeding on a park bench and I can see part of her breast or her shirt is lifted so much that her stomach is exposed. To me, breastfeeding is a private and intimate thing and I've requested a fitting room at a store to feed LO or have gone back to my car to BF there. I did not mean for my response to offend you. I was just trying to explain how I feel about BF in public.

I nurse mostly in my car when we're out and about to avoid these situations. If I have to nurse in public, I use a cover. Frankly, *I* don't want to flash people, because that would make *me* uncomfortable, ha.

I will say that on a recent flight, Baby Y's first, there was just no way for me to nurse with a cover in coach with a squirming baby. So I sat by the window, had DH block me to the extent that he could, and wore full-panel maternity pants to cover my tummy. I didn't expose a lot of flesh, trust me, and to my knowledge no one raised an eyebrow. The alternative was listening to a screaming baby for 90 minutes!

I think women who are "proving the point" do do a rest of us a bit of a disservice. In an ideal world, no one would bat an eye, BUT we cannot unsexualize boobs. We're too far down that road, sadly. But we can boost acceptance of nursing in public by trying, within reason, not to flash people. The courtroom case really bothers me because the woman had a cover and was in the back (I think?) The Target case is more iffy ... I know I would be a heckuva lot more comfy in a fitting room than in the middle of an aisle.

I dont know why guys freak out when they see a woman Breast feeding in public. they have no problem looking at cleavage and boobs in a sexual way.
I do agree with @thehistoryofus that if more women nursed more often in public there wouldnt be that shock factor

@Mrs. Yoyo: Good point!

I used to nurse in public with a nursing cover and never received any strange looks. However, my LO now fidgets A LOT while nursing (and more often now, she'll insist on nursing standing up, lol) so I usually nurse her in my car since the windows are tinted and there's more flexibility. Also, I no longer wear nursing tops so I would be exposing a lot of skin if I were to nurse in public, which would be uncomfortable for me. I have, on a few occasions, nursed her in the bathroom when there just wasn't a good place to sit and nurse. Not ideal but as long as it's clean, it's not too bad.

I agree with what @thehistoryofus said. I don't have any problem with a woman nursing in public whether she uses a cover or not. The baby has to eat. When I've seen women nursing without a cover I could hardly see any of the breast. I don't feel like they were in your face about it.

I was talking about becoming a mom (etc.) with one of my friend's parents who have been like a second set of parents to me for almost a decade, the father always jokingly calls me the "daughter he never wanted" since he has two sons. And when breastfeeding came up I was surprised to how strongly he opposed to it in general and the fact that his wife didn't seem to find it weird that he was SO against it. He actually said to me, "you aren't going to breastfeed, are you?" and when I made it clear I'll do everything in my power to EBF he definitely seemed taken aback.

His wife didn't breastfeed their sons since she worked full time and instead of just pumping throughout the day they used formula so I GUESS he just may not be used to the idea? But he just kept saying, "it's just weird" to which I would respond, "it's the most natural thing EVER Mr. S; it really isn't weird at all."

I can sort of understand the people who don't want you breastfeeding in public, but the people who are just against it in general are the ones I'll never understand!

@Navy_Mommy: Wow I wasnt aware that there are people who are just against breast feeding in general?

@anewme: I totally agree! I visited countries in africa, its very there common to see women breastfeeding everywhere and anywhere and no one bats an eyelid.