What is your take on this? Yea or Nay? Covered or uncovered? Any places more acceptable or less acceptable?

Keep in mind that this is just opinions. Breastfeeding in public, covered or not, is protected by law. Telling a woman to cover up, stop, leave, go to the bathroom...all that is illegal.


My opinion is you gotta do what you gotta do. Feed that baby whatever way works. Would rather see some boobs than hear a baby scream. Even the pope says if your baby is hungry you feed it.

6/11/2014 8:28:39 AM

6/11/2014 8:31:00 AM

I'm gonna stare

6/11/2014 8:31:13 AM

What's the point of this thread, to provoke an argument?

6/11/2014 8:31:44 AM

Sure. Or maybe a discussion. Or whatever happens. Who cares? It is chit chat and no one posts much anymore. If it generates traffic again I say who cares?

6/11/2014 8:33:30 AM

Quote :

" Feed that baby whatever way works. "

It's a boob. Boobs feed babies. People needn't be uptight about it, especially in a nonsexual context.

6/11/2014 8:34:28 AM

6/11/2014 8:35:34 AM

[Edited on June 11, 2014 at 8:43 AM. Reason : .]

6/11/2014 8:40:33 AM

6/11/2014 8:41:24 AM

only assholes are uptight about this.

6/11/2014 8:41:48 AM

6/11/2014 8:50:19 AM

i'm so conflicted

yay boobs, boo babies

6/11/2014 8:55:54 AM

the mommy bloggers who do this to make a point as part of their feminist fight against the man are dumb

it doesn't bother me either way, but the reasonable thing is to cover up if you have a cloth or blanket with you

6/11/2014 9:09:28 AM

I've got a story for this one:

After I graduated I took some doctoral level courses at UNC-CH to see if I wanted to pursue grad school and one of my seminar professors was this renown scholar in the field. For our final paper (pretty much our whole grade) we didn't have class the last two weeks, but it was on us to schedule a time to meet with the professor at this coffee shop in Carrboro to discuss our progress, etc. because she had just given birth.

I get to this crowded cafe and she says "ncsuallday! I'm so glad you're here! stick out your hands." Confused, I do as I'm asked and she squirts a bunch of hand sanitizer in my hands and thrusts this newborn infant into my arms. I've never held a baby in my life, and had no desire to (still don't) but before I know it I'm holding this kid while she goes to the bathroom. She gets back and thanks me. Cool, no problem.

So I start describing my paper to her and all of a sudden like it's nothing she fucking unhooks her bra and sticks this kid on her tit. I'm trying as hard as I can to maintain eye contact and focus on describing a complicated paper to her and she's acting like nothing is weird about this. Then all of a sudden she says "oh wow, he's really hungry today!" and switches tits. So I'm sitting there in the middle of a crowded cafe watching my old, overweight, Czechoslovakian professor's kid switch hit on her tits.

One of the most awkward and unbelievable circumstances I have ever been in.

6/11/2014 9:09:28 AM

That is fucking hilarious! I'm thinking in a professional setting like that I would probably try and wait, but if someone did that in front of me in a interview or something I'm not sure how I would feel walking a way from it. How long was the meeting? Over an hour with a newborn going through a growth spurt I can kind of understand.

[Edited on June 11, 2014 at 9:14 AM. Reason : .]

6/11/2014 9:11:49 AM

You should have ordered a coffee black, then held your cup out to her with an inquisatively expectant look on your face.

6/11/2014 9:13:12 AM

to me.... just do it and don't talk about it.

6/11/2014 9:14:35 AM

would it be inappropriate to compliment them?

6/11/2014 9:22:20 AM

at work my wife goes to the dedicated room to pump and still uses a cover even though she's the only one in the room because supposedly if you feel covered your flow will be better

in public my wife mostly covers up but plenty of times in the car with the door open the boob is just hanging out

around family she just pops it out as long as no males over 10 are around

6/11/2014 9:23:34 AM

Bigman157. Some moms appreciate acknowledgement of them doing a good job feeding their baby or being a good mom and even a high five. Others as embarrassed as hell and hope no one notices. Choose wisely. I'd be fine with a compliment. Even if it was on my rack not my parental skills.

6/11/2014 9:28:16 AM

Damn, EMCE beat me to it with the gif. I love the pause.

6/11/2014 10:10:39 AM

I think that women can be very discrete with this stuff. Ones that aren't just don't give a fuck.

6/11/2014 10:32:06 AM

Quote :

"It's a boob. Boobs feed babies. People needn't be uptight about it, especially in a nonsexual context."

this.

6/11/2014 12:58:42 PM

Quote :

"only assholes are uptight about this. "

[Edited on June 11, 2014 at 1:02 PM. Reason : asdfa]

6/11/2014 1:02:18 PM

Hahaha, two years in Africa (well, fifteen days shy of two years) have totally inured me to this. Just be glad you are seeing relatively pert American titties instead of the stuff that happens here. I swear to God, I have seen women whip a titty over their back to feed the kid (babies being tied to their backs), and I have seen them put one under their arm for the same purpose.

6/11/2014 1:07:35 PM

Convenient.

6/11/2014 1:08:59 PM

I used to think "women should be able to feed anywhere, but so they don't draw attention to themselves it would probably be best to use a cover or go to the restroom to do it." I never thought they should have to, just that it would help prevent unwanted attention, and doing so was a good thing.

But then as I learned/thought more about it, most the second half of that thought dropped away.

I still don't think I will be comfortable whipping out my boob in a public place or even around a lot of my family without a cover, but I'm sure a lot of the things I think I'll do as a parent will change when I actually become one.

6/11/2014 1:30:36 PM

I've spent a lot of time with breastfeeding moms, especially in the early days of staying at home with my kids.
85% of the women i hung out with who nurse in public are good enough that they can do it without anyone noticing. Even people holding a direct conversation with them.
The other 15% were either nursing twins, or were so well endowed that it was difficult to be discreet, but even then, it was still something you wouldn't have noticed unless you were staring directly at them.

And as for the covers, most women I've talked to hated them, because it makes the process a lot more difficult and tends to draw a whole lot of unwanted attention.

My wife is a breastfeeding ninja, she once held a 5 minute conversation with a woman while nursing my son and the woman never knew. It wasn't until she asked my wife about nursing afterwards that she learned she'd been talking to my wife the whole time my son was feeding, she was blown away.

And for any breastfeeding moms on here, the NC law on public indecency (showing your tits) specifically excuses nursing mothers. You could take your top off completely and nurse your kid, and as long as you have a legal right to be in that location, no one can stop you.
The rules are different for private property, but its been our experience over the last 4 years, that as long as you aren't doing anything to draw attention to yourselves, no one will give a shit.

Edit:
Thought I'd add a little bullshit rant about pumping at work.

So my wife's company provides a lactation room. Her office is 6 floors and she's on the 4th, the room is on the 2nd. To use the room you have to sign up for a slot on their intranet. Then you have to go to the first floor to check out a key from the front desk, then up to the 2nd to pump, then when you're done you go back to the 1st to check the key back in, then back up to your desk. It adds about 20 minutes of procedure onto an already time consuming task. And since most women need to pump at least twice a day, its 40 minutes a day spent checking in and checking out keys.
Also, if you keep the parts in a fridge, you don't need to clean them between pumps, but her company has outlawed mini-fridges and has started to enforce this on breastfeeding moms. Now the break room fridges are filling up with breastmilk and there's an extra 10 minutes on each pumping time to hand wash the parts in the break room sink.

To get around all this, my wife used the new Obamacare rules to order an upgraded pump that is near silent. She brought in a big shirt that she wears over everything and just pumps at her desk. No one knew, including her cube neighbors, for weeks until she told someone. She did this for about a year until someone found out what she was doing and complained to her boss. Now she's back on the rotation for the lactation room.



[Edited on June 11, 2014 at 1:59 PM. Reason : Rant]

6/11/2014 1:46:49 PM

Covers are great in theory.

Try wearing one with a baby who won't keep its arms still. Or gets easily distracted by having this big ol' sheath on top of it.

Coming from a dad who's never breastfed in his life, just observed his wife attempting to use a cover.

6/11/2014 1:54:02 PM

^haha yeah my mom told me when I was a baby I would refuse to have that thing over me so I'd always push it off and expose her.

Fuck having something covering my face.

6/11/2014 2:01:18 PM

Quote :

"How long was the meeting? Over an hour with a newborn going through a growth spurt I can kind of understand."

It was set up to be an hour, but I kind wrapped up whatever "questions" I had pretty quickly. To be fair, she did have students coming in back to back. I didn't care, it was just a shock because 1) I've never seen somebody breast feed and 2) I've never held a baby and have avoided it at all times before that.

LOL at EMCE's comment

6/11/2014 2:18:13 PM

Its kind of impolite to just whip it out without warning if the situation isn't apparent.

If she wasn't going to be discreet about it, a simple "hold on a sec, I need to set him up to nurse" would have been enough warning so you could stare off at the shitty wall art for sale until she was settled.

6/11/2014 2:40:05 PM

True Story: I saw a boob on the patio at Cameron Bar and Grille once. I guess the baby was full and pulled back. I wasn't trying to look, but the breast feeder was sitting behind the person I was across from (and talking to). So naturally my male brain was subconsciously like "OMG A B00B" and my eyes wandered over for a moment. She quickly realized the baby was done and put her boob away.

I did not think it was a big deal at all, and see no reason why the baby should have to wait to eat. I damn sure eat when I am hungry.

6/11/2014 3:21:47 PM

That's happened to my wife a few times. Usually its because my son gets distracted and pulls off to look at whatever grabbed his attention.

The best part is that when the milk lets down, it comes out in kind of a spray, so the baby has to do very little work. When the kid pulls off prematurely though, the spray doesn't stop, so he'll pull off to stare at something and then its like a water gun filled with milk is spraying him in the face.

6/11/2014 3:38:23 PM

I will breastfeed my baby in public with a cover, but I'm not that uptight about it. It's just because I don't feel comfortable letting all my awesomeness out for the world to see. My baby pulls at the cover and generally doesn't like it. But she likes nursing more, so she deals with it. I can do it fairly discreetly, and have a few nursing shirts that are amazingly easy to use.

6/11/2014 4:10:50 PM

Thank you, tww, for restoring my faith in our generation.

6/11/2014 4:31:24 PM

OMG BOOBS

6/11/2014 4:52:45 PM

Quote :

" Breastfeeding in public, covered or not, is protected by law. Telling a woman to cover up, stop, leave, go to the bathroom...all that is illegal."

Please cite how it's illegal. That sounds like a violation of a person's first amendment right to free speech.

6/11/2014 5:08:31 PM

use a cover, no more controversy.

6/11/2014 5:12:19 PM

^^No need to be pedantic. You're free to tell a woman whatever you want verbally, but you cant enforce it.

http://breastfeedinglaw.com/state-laws/north-carolina/
§ 14-190.9. Indecent exposure.

Quote :

"(b) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a woman may breast feed in any public or private location where she is otherwise authorized to be, irrespective of whether the nipple of the mother’s breast is uncovered during or incidental to the breast feeding. "

I'd imagine if some business owner wants to be a dick about it, he could refuse service and ask you to leave, since that is every private property owners right.

6/11/2014 5:22:55 PM

I mean I don't have a problem with it at all, but if it's a nice rack I'm gonna be trying to catch a peek.

6/11/2014 5:31:46 PM

who gives a fuck?

6/11/2014 5:33:31 PM

Ok. Not illegal. I mixed stuff up. What is illegal is making women in a workplace pump in a restroom. Getting my laws mixed.

[Edited on June 11, 2014 at 6:11 PM. Reason : The workplace laws only apply to businesses with 50+ employees]

6/11/2014 6:00:20 PM

Quote :

"^^No need to be pedantic. You're free to tell a woman whatever you want verbally, but you cant enforce it."

Just pointing it out because I have heard this misconception more than once. You can call it pedantic, but there are plenty of people who actually believe this to be true and it seems to be a commonly spread misconception. Just clarifying the truth for the purposes of the discussion. Carry on.

[Edited on June 11, 2014 at 7:00 PM. Reason : l]

6/11/2014 6:58:17 PM

I'm totally cool with it, but if you're not trying to be discrete about it then don't be mad when men catch a glimpse IMO.

6/12/2014 1:22:08 AM

I don't think any women in this thread, or in general that I've heard, are mad b/c they've seen men looking.

Guys are guys. I don't know any dude who wouldn't be all "OMG Boob!" for at least a split second.

6/12/2014 7:07:52 AM

I only get upset when people give me mean looks, like I am doing something wrong. Even with the cover on I have been told to go somewhere else. Seriously? With the cover on I am more covered up than 90% of people here!

I did flash a nipple at a 14 year old boy once when I was just starting out. He looked pretty shocked.

6/12/2014 8:03:56 AM

I think it should be illegal in bars

6/12/2014 8:26:34 AM

I don't give a shit who looks. Since having my baby the landscapers spend a lot more time on the yard in front of my living room window.

6/12/2014 9:55:47 AM

that's creepy as fuck

6/12/2014 10:14:42 AM