To Nursing Cover Up or Not to Nursing Cover Up

June 4, 2007

I’ve never used a breastfeeding cover when nursing a baby… technically. I have and do often use a baby sling to accomplish the same thing however. A lot of breastfeeding advocates are opposed to nursing cover ups, and I understand their argument. After all, why should you need to hide feeding a baby? It’s totally natural and normal.

At the same time, I’m more interested in meeting a woman where she’s at and getting more breastmilk into her baby for more months/years. :) To that end, I think nursing covers can be a good tool in a mother’s arsenal. For example:

  • New babies- New babies typically need a little help getting latched on. They’re not old pros yet who can find the nipple in their sleep. It might take Mom a minute or two to get baby settled, and then she might have to stay put so as to avoid jostling the baby and causing him to lose his latch. So rather than leaving the room or pulling her blouse up to her throat, she could toss a nursing cover over her shoulder and get the job done.
  • Distracted babies – Many babies, especially at around the 9 month mark, are very distractable during feedings. If you need your little one to get down to business instead of doing the on-again, off-again dance, a nursing cover may be just the ticket. This helps if he’s overstimulated and having trouble getting to sleep too.
  • Nervous Mommies – If a Mom is nervous about breastfeeding in public, I would much rather see her nurse under cover than go to the trouble of pumping and feeding her baby a bottle that may cause problems for her baby (nipple confusion doesn’t happen to all babies, but for some, it only takes *one* bottle to cause difficulties).
  • Unenlightened Relatives – Some of us, no matter how strongly we feel about breastfeeding, have relatives (or even friends) who think it’s “gross” to feed a child the way nature intended. If your family is going to spew out toxic energy and make you feel bad about meeting your baby’s needs, use a cover up. That way you head off a lot of the negative comments.

Personally I think that slings are more convenient as a nursing cover since they can also be used as a carrier. Many times I’ve been nursing a little one and had someone go so far as to peek in and not even know I was breastfeeding. There are some gorgeous slings at Comfy Joey.

If you prefer some other type of baby carrier or don’t like slings, you can get a nursing cover up at Peek-a-Boo.

Posted by carrie | Filed Under Breastfeeding, Cool stuff 

More Posts By Carrie:

Comments

2 Responses to “To Nursing Cover Up or Not to Nursing Cover Up”

  1. Tsoniki on June 6th, 2007 11:50 am

    My babies both hated being covered up – they would latch on and nurse fine, then fling the blanket or whatever away so they could still see. I got to be a pro at hiding as best as I could though. LOL

  2. Jen on June 6th, 2007 3:51 pm

    My girls were not discreet nursers LOL.. We would be out eating and I would get a blanket and they would just keep pulling it back so they could see my face.. too funny.

    I do agree with you Carrie… slings are the best cover up anyways.

Got something to say?