Breastfeeding out and about.... or in parents rooms?

[Shanti]

Oooooh yes! It sure makes it challenging BF'ing out in public when your baby wants to pull on and off all the time and look around!!! haha DD is so distracted these days I have to be watching her otherwise she can come off and my nipple is totally exposed LOL

I'll still go to some parents rooms but depends where we are. There is a shopping centre we go to and it has the biggest parents room with heaps of comfy chairs to sit on and i'll use that if its nearby otherwise I'll happily sit on a seat in the foodcourt... Depends where we are and what the chairs are like

That's a good point a few of you made re: the quietness of a parents room.... it's good for when our babies are going to feed better in a quiet room huh? I agree. Sometimes though if young toddler is in the room and at that age where they think its funny to do a high pitch squeal *rolls eyes* that's not really helpful. Cos they have those kids playpens in some of the parents rooms. That happened to us once and I just stopped feeding DD cos she wasnt anyway and we went into the foodcourts to feed, it was quieter haha

Sweetpea - that's exactly right. Parents rooms are pretty much toilets so why should babies feed there?

[*Ang*]

My reasons were because of the huge booooobies that made me uncomfortable. I had to have my whole boob out to feed and it was impossible.

Thats pretty much my reasoning as well for feeding in parents rooms. I can't just "discreetly" feed - when you have size G breasts it is near on impossible!!!

Also quite often if I have a toddler with me then it is easier in a parents room as then the toddler can wander around a bit without me having to worry that they will get up and go and I will have to chase them with my boob flopping out!

I have b/f out and about in restaraunts etc and have no problems at someones house, playgroup, etc but if am at the shops and there is a parents room available I will use that option.

[Winter]

I almost sat down and fed DD in the toaster section of Myers the other day!! I didn't know where the parents' room was and DD was squealing, but luckily I saw the sign with directions before whipping out a boob!

I wouldn't have cared, I feed DD anywhere she needs feeding, but there was nowhere to sit except the floor and it was going to be a long one!

I do use the parents room if it is clean and comfortable, if it is stinky, down dark and dingy corridors or in anyway makes me think that I'm being relegated out of sight, then we AINT going in there..

[~Kim~]

In a little town there is no parents room lol.
No hiding here....If I'm at work I do it there - I work with mainly all men and they are surprisingly supportive.
Saying that the only person I won't feed in front of is my FIL. He gives me the creeps....

[Winter]

Funny how there is always one person you wont feed in front of...BIL for me...

[Gigi]

for me, using the parent's room is about
- are the chairs comfy and clean?
- are there bright lights right above? cos that means my baby would have bright lights in her eyes when in the feeding position (Marion Westfield is chronic for this)
- how close are the chairs to the disposable nappy bins?
- does the parents room smell ok? get cleaned regularly?
- what is the access like? if where i have to sit to breastfeed, means everyone entering the parents room, to change their bub, take toddlers to teh loo, use the microwave etc, is walking in front of me, i dont' find that relaxing or quiet
- is there room to park the pram without inconveniencing others who will come in after me
- how close is the parent's room, to me, when baby starts yelling for a feed

and this didn't apply to me (with only one child) but if i had more than one, maybe i would like a parent's room with a toddler play area, with a "fence and gate" so i could put my toddler in there, not worry about them running off, and we could have eye contact.

At the start, with my nb, i was very unwell after a complicated c-section, and just to survive day to day, was a big thing, so i was so focussed on feeding my child, and getting thru the pain of my abdominal pain, modesty was the last thing on my mind. I lived in breastfeeding camisoles, which are not very modest for the top half of the breast, they cover the tummy, but not much else when you are feeding your bub.

it took me a while to source breastfeeding friendly clothing that both worked and was in my price bracket. Now i have that sorted, it's so easy to feed in public and be much more modest about it, than i was initially (plus now i am not in constant pain). The lack of breastfeeding friendly swimwear is one i haven't sorted, but the rest of the year, it's fine now.

my baby, like most everyone else's, also went thru the stage of being terribly distracted, latching on and off, taking my nipple with her! and that i found pretty embarrassing, whilst feeding in public. not to mention the "pushing mummy's top UP" phase she went thru. I would push it down, she would push it up, etc.

with feeding in foodcourts, nowhere to rest your arm, i got such sore arms feeding, i looked for sofas so i could rest one arm on the sofa arm. hard to find that in a food court. i just didn't find food court seating very bf-ing friendly. Plus i got my purse knicked once in a foodcourt WHILST i was bf-ing my bub. I was so new at bf-ing, trying to make sure i was doing it right, so whilst i was busy staring at my baby, with my handbag by my side, someone took off with my purse. i never got it back. Foodcourts are so open, i felt very vulnerable, being stolen from, whilst i was tryign to feed my child. Yes i should have zipped my bag up (which i normally do) but i was tired and feeling a bit overwhelmed.

i found the random sofas at shopping centres, the comfiest places to bf. (in preference to the food court chairs). it's too expensive to sit in a cafe EVERY time your bub wants a feed.

i'm feeding a child over two now, i do it, cos it's what she requests, but i dislike being quizzed as to WHY i'm "still feeding a child that age". Really, it's our business, and if strangers cannot see how healthy my child is, that really is their problem. I do it for her, not me. The older she gets (and still requests mummy's milk) the more important the bf-ing friendly clothing is to me. i never had it in the first year, never thought i'd make it to one month, let alone over two years!

[Fleur]

My reasons for not feeding in public were the same as Cookiemonster & Ang...big breasts make it so hard to be discreet.

Having said that, there were places I would feed, one was up at DS1's classroom when I was up there helping out, I would sit in the reading chair. The kids knew what I was doing & it was no big deal.

Also it got easier as we went along, once Ds2 got the hang of it I didn't have to fiddle so much to get him on, so there were times & places where I felt comfortable doing it.

But on the whole I had to get the whole boob out, I also have to hold my nipple away from bubs nose and positioning is harder too. I always looked at women feeding in public who made it look so easy & envied them

[DoubleK]

for me, i fed where i was comfortable...

obviously in the beginning, i preferred to feed privately (before we both got the hang of it) as she was older, i was happy to feed wherever, but i was more comfortable being discreet about it- not to the point where i made myself uncomfortable though.

every now and then i did come across a situation where i didnt feel comfortable feeding, so i would go somewhere else.

i have used parents rooms. some of these rooms are just fantastic! others, are still a little cramped/make do type rooms. id never sit in there if i felt it was unclean or whatever.

this time around, i have to keep in mind i have DD to watch as well.. so if that means we have to go into a parents room, well so be it! there is no point me sitting somewhere where i cant keep an eye on DD1!

[Indadhanu]

Yep, out and about in public here too We did do a stint in the parents room, when Jazz went through her distracted pull-off-and-flash-me-to-the-world-every-5-seconds stage, but now she knows if she pulls off, thats it, no more boobies! lol So we're back to public bfing. Anywhere, anytime. I used to be able to bf walking in the sling but shes a bit heavy for that now! lol So i just find a comfy seat, Zarraffas (sp? I think thats what its called?) have been hugely supportive! Always let me bf in their comfy comfy chairs without buying something. I usually do but its nice to jnow I dont have to!

[MantaRay]

With DS1, I started out only feeding in feeding rooms if there was one nearby. But overtime I became more and more comfortable with feeding anywhere. By the time DS2 came along, getting two kids into a feeding room seemed like too much hard work, so I usually just sat down where ever I was and fed. I have fed on the floor of most of the shops at our local shopping centre! One time in a supermarket a staff member brought me a chair - unnecessary but very thoughtful!

[Inertia]

If there is a decent parents room available and I am not in the middle of something else (like say - lunch) then I will use it because it means the seats are more comfy. I dislike the ones with little cubicles and curtains (although I understand some women prefer to be that hidden) but its like saying we shouldn't even bf in front of other bfing mothers!

But if there isnt one or its crap or I am sitting down to a meal myself or shopping or any number of things I go out in public to do - I will feed my baby. I have gotten my share of comments but meh. I remember once in the Penrith Plaza food court being asked "Do you have to do that here"? I mean seriously - You are bloody well eating in public! I have to sit there and see you chew on a cheeseburger.

Isnt it funny how society will only ever ask you to starve your baby in the name of comfort. Let the baby scream, but god forbid we have less than 20 different shops full of ready cooked food available at a moments notice in a shopping centre. Lets see them buy a steak, pull out the hot plate and have to prepare it before eating it - in the middle of a shopping centre. Or maybe they can leave home with ready made steaks in steak warmers. Then they can go and sit in the fully enclosed "eating room" so no one has to watch them chewing.

[Oorki Galoorki]

any where everywhere..even while walking around shopping

[butterfly*kisses]

Hi Renstar,

Firstly can I say that your bubby is absolutely GORGEOUS! You must be so proud!

Secondly, to the issue of bfing in public. I bf anywhere, anytime. I have a lovely sling that allows me to feed one handed, so I can shop...tend to kids...you name it, I can do it at the same time. A person would have no idea that i am feeding.....unless they came a looked closely.

I do see MANY women up here in the NT bfing in public, all of them differently - some discreetly, and others not so. After being confronted many times in Qld about my preference for public bfing with baby #1 (once at a private party!).....I was relieved to move back to the NT where it is common place to see indigenous women with a child on hip helping itself to a meal. Personally I found Qld to be FAR more conservative and old fashioned in comparison to the NT.

My favourite memory of moving back to the NT was standing in line at the bottle shop, and in the next line was an indigenous woman with a 1ish year old on hip, who reached into her mother's slip dress and pulled out her breast, and promptly began feeding. I thought "Honey, Qld as a state could learn much from you!"

I certainly would not bare my entire breast in public to feed my baby, but I have seen many women do so at shops etc. I have a good friend that prefers this mode of feeding, and have had lunch at a restaurant with her when she did exactly this to feed her baby. No one even blinked an eyelid.

[Neenee Jellybeanie]

One of the most awkward BFing experiences is when I'm with my family (most recently, ILs) with my nearly 2 year old playing with my nipples. She screams her head off if I put them away so what do I do?! I always breastfeed in public, though I think parents rooms are great for those who want/need them. They're certainly a great help if you have a fussy bub or a newborn or are having other feeding difficulties.