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I nursed in the living room, didn't use a cover. If they are coming to visit a newborn they should expect to see breast feeding.

I just nursed in front of them. If it was someone I wasn't super comfortable nursing in front of I used a cover, but most of the time I didn't bother.

I nursed in front of them, but LO didn't mind a cover or blanket halfway covering the tatas. Really though, who cares...everyone has seen breasts If they are uncomfortable they can leave the room.

I nursed in the nursery and people could either wait or leave but they usually left !

I stayed alone in the nursery all the time, especially when he was only 2 w old and everyone visited for the first time. We nursed so much that I felt like I was missing the fun. It was so lonely for me do I'm not sure I'd do that again if we have #2.

@grizz: @rahlyrah: Your babies are still in the early stages. Nursing is still tricky right now. I totally wouldn't pump just so people could hang around longer. And definitely don't feel bad. Babies gotta eat!

Your comfort (and baby's) are important. Personally I do not care who sees my breasts. Really. Not because they are great or anything, but just because I look at them as a food source and source of nurturing and... if you want to look, go right ahead. But it took years to get to where I'm at now. In the early days with Ellie I went in another room. By the time she was two I nursed here wherever-- no cover, no shame. With Lorelei I was that way from the start. If it made other people uncomfortable we'd deal with it. I might be shameless, but I try not to be mean or insensitive.

I wouldn't feed expressed milk just to make others more comfortable. Having dealt with low supply I think I just have an instinctive horror reaction to anything that might possibly impact supply, so I would never have been able to do that, anyway, just because I needed all the stimulation I could get. But in most circumstances it's just fine, assuming that's what you want to do.

You could consider just turning briefly so your back is facing them until he's latched. I still do that sometimes depending on the company or who I am around if I think it might be harder to do without people getting an eyeful.

Sigh...I can already see this conflict in my future. I'm not even due for another 17 days and I've told DH that I'm not comfortable having people over 24/7 because of the breastfeeding issue and he already doesn't get it.

I may be worried for nothing, because our LO could be late, but the 5 days before I'm due we somehow now have both his parents AND my mom coming to stay with us in our 2 bedroom condo. That we're moving into tomorrow. That means someone will be sleeping in the living room...and he doesn't understand how that could possible be an issue with newborn baby in the house.

I have this giant fear that I'm going to be stuck in our bedroom 24/7 that week, trying to nurse a baby or trying to calm a crying baby, since someone will be out in the living room at all times.

We really haven't had visitors, just my mom. It's most comfortable for me to nurse in the living room and we've had a ton of breastfeeding struggles. At 10.5-11 weeks, we've finally started to settle into a groove that works for us... (Which includes a little supplementing at night) And we're going on a massive trip to see DH's whole family soon.

I keep casually mentioning to him that I'm going to nurse as much as possible while we're on the trip and that I want to avoid pumping as much as possible (so as not to deal with washing and drying pump parts, storing breastmilk, etc. and it's double the work, I basically feed lo twice when I pump!) and he says he's fine with it and fine with me not wanting to nurse in front of the ILs (none have ever breastfed and MIL and 2 SILs have told me its awkward to breastfeed)... But I think he's going to change his tune once he realizes how often LO eats (every 1.5-3.5 hours... start to start).

It depended on who was there. Most people I would nurse in front of, but others I would just nurse in the nursery. LO was a fast, one-side eater though.

We had so much trouble breastfeeding that I only ever nursed in front of my mom and my sister. I'm sure if I had continued much longer than 3 months I would have felt different. I pumped a few times and gave a bottle with visitors but only because I didn't want to miss the fun. If you would rather nurse in another room then that's what you should do. Nothing comes before your LO and your comfort at this point!

nursing was very difficult in the beginning for us- screaming fits, oversupply, milk spraying everywhere, cluster feeding non stop, latching on an off, etc. so i usually just nursed in our bedroom if people were over. LO was a constant cluster feeder and we told people this, so before they came over they would always ask if it was a good time or if she was clustering lol. now, i honestly dont care who i nurse in front of.

@pregnantbee: I did the same thing. M was SUCH a bad nurser - popping off all the time and it hurt like crazy so I was a sight during nursing sessions, too. I would hide in the nursery if people were over and I had to nurse her.

Once we both got the hang of it, I would sit in the family room and hang out and let her eat. If she popped on and off, so be it, that was my thought at that point when I was tired of hiding and it no longer hurt.

We didn't really have friends over till LO was 2 weeks old, and then we had a 2 hour open house and gave LO a pumped bottle that one time. We did something similar when LO was 6 weeks old but by then it was easier to nurse for 10 minutes and be done for a while so I didn't worry about finishing up nursing in LO's room. Some close friends came to see us outside that window and I nursed in front of them- they mostly had kids or were trying to, or were mature enough to suck it up.
Mainly, though, we just didn't have many visitors, and I got pissed off at visitors for staying more than about 30 minutes unless I felt comfortable being essentially topless in front of them. That's going to be my rule with the next baby too- if I can be topless in front of you, you can hang out whenever (this includes my mom, my sister, DH's godmother, and many of my female friends. If I don't, it is DH's job to keep people away, and honestly this mainly applies to my FIL. I really resented FIL after we had LO #1 because I didn't feel comfortable BFing in front of him at first, and nursing was so hard that I couldn't use a cover, I needed all the help I could get to get him latched and get remotely comfortable, so there was no being discreet about it. And whereas my dad would make himself scarce or just hang out in other rooms (or more commonly, volunteer to run any errand anyone could think up), FIL would just hang out in the living room while I hid upstairs.

That is not happening again, and I feel really strongly that if I'm the one doing the work of breastfeeding, DH's job is to facilitate that in any way he can, even if it goes against his preferences. My sister was also really good at shooing people away if I let her know they were making me uncomfortable by staying too long or something.

I nurse in front of visitors....but all the visitors we've had have been close family/friends and I don't care if they see the boobs.

1) don't feel bad about friends not seeing the baby because you're nursing. You can always tell them before they come over (hopefully they call and not just show up and expect to stay?!) that evenings aren't great and a daytime visit is better. I think visitors complaining about nursing are as silly as visitors who complain that the baby is napping.
2) I did a mix of nursing in front of people or in the nursery. Whichever was easiest for me at the time is what we did. I never used a cover, but did use an A&A blanket to shield me/cover up. I never didn't feed him because a visitor was there.
3) ugggh, suggesting a bottle is such crap! I hated that - its so much work to pump, prep a bottle, clean the parts, and then the bottle. I remember telling my relative who suggested that, that she should go sit in a room alone for 20-30 minutes, pinch herself the whole time, and then do the dishes afterwards.

Take heart, nursing gets easier/shorter/more comfortable as time goes on!