ACK found this waiting in my Draft pile!!
I recently read a post on babycenter by the author of Kitchen Stewardship, which I LOVE! It was about the strange places she had nursed a few I haven't done, my son was in the NICU during my 6w PP visit and I don't like baseball. But a few I had done and hadn't really thought much of them. Once he came home Nursing-in-public (NIP) wasn't something I thought about doing or not doing, I just did.
With a child who physically can't take bottles and has a major heart condition, which means he needs every cal he can get and you DON'T hold feeds, you nurse where you are, period. I usually had him in a wrap and felt sufficiently covered, although one of my mom's bosses did get a shock once when we ran into him in a grocery store once... He didn't realize I was nursing and decided to "peek" over my shoulder to look at Lil'C. His reaction was HILL-AIR-IOUS!
But I know, having both exclusively pumped (5mo) and nursed on demand (about 15 mo, pregnancy dried me up) pumping in public situations is much more difficult, and maybe why I'm not shy about NIPing.
So here are some of the places I have pumped..
*Pumping room, with up to 2 other pumping women in there with me, 2+ times a day during the NICU stay, until we started to nurse.
*Front seat of my car with hubby driving, if your EPing.. You can't skip a pumping. Did you know you can buy a car charger for your pump? Totally worth it!
*Back seat of family members car, including my little brother's. I have done this with my mother, sister, younger brother and father all in the car. Mom and Sis were no biggie.. The guys.. Well...
*Back seat of a friends car. One was a single chic with my hubby in the front seat. Another was another couple expecting their first.. Her hubby had just met us that day.
*while driving... I actually got a little to good at this! Hands free pumping bra, get set up before leaving the parking lot or at a stop light and let the pump do the work.
*In the kitchen at my office that I was working at the time, thankfully the office was all full of women and they all knew if the door was shut, I was pumping.
*while on the phone with my male boss, while in the office kitchen..
*countless parking lots..
*while asleep... For 3 hours... I really don't suggest it.. I fell asleep with my head laying on the top of my pump.. I was sooooo engorged at the next pumping..
*in hospital rooms, I swear the food guy knew when I was pumping (early days) and ended up walking in on me every.time.!
surprisingly... I have never pumped at my son's bedside.. They didn't allow it in our massive NICU or in the PICU.. But I have nursed in both places.
And here are some of the places I have nursed, most in either a wrap or a sling:
*In stores of all sorts, grocery, craft, auto parts, etc. both while walking around and while checking out. This includes malls.
*In church. Funniest thing is that at my parents older generation church no one said a thing, but at my husband and I's younger generation I church I was asked to leave the sanctuary and go to the parenting room (which is claustrophobia inducingly small) on more than one occasion... I think I made a few people mad in the process. Oh well.
*in the car, both parked and in motion.. (2 hour trip to the hospital once a week, bottles aren't an option.. You learn.) while in motion he was in his car seat and I was wearing a seatbelt.. Highly uncomfortable, requiring some crazy positions but possible.
*Drs offices, waiting rooms, walking about the hospital, NICU and PICU, cardiac floor and Post-Op floor (his not mine). Really... Who didn't see those coming.
*Restaurants of all sorts from fast food to a local fine dining restaurant. Including McDs, Chic-Fil-A, Applebees, Mugshots, Steak escape, Ruby Tuesdays, and many many more.
*Grandparents houses. Both my parents and in-laws. My MIL nursed 7 of her 8 children (5 of which were adopted) so I knew she wouldn't be any issue. We lived at my parents for a long time, and my mom nursed us as well.
*walking around the zoo with my mom, Sis,and niece. I may have nursed on the zoo train but don't remember.
*local park during a local festival. (packed with people)
* while looking at Christmas lights (in the same park as above).
Surprisingly I have only been asked to move at the one Church or by family members.. My family thinks that I'm to open about it. I guess after pumping for so long (desecrate pumping really isn't possible thanks to the "whump whump" sound) and learning to nurse in an 100 bed open NICU next to the front window.. I didn't see the point in being "shy" about it. Maybe more people will say something about NIPing with #2 since she won't be wearing an O2 tube.
Where are some of the places you have pumped and/or nursed?
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