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Originally Posted by PM_Mama00
Understandable, but that's why I admitted I had no experience and asked the question. I know it's a natural thing, but if someone were doing it around me and I knew, I'd feel really uncomfortable.
This is just an innocent question, but what about pumps and bottling it? Don't alot of working mothers who BF do that?
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I do have experience in this area and I agree with you, Phyllis. There is no reason to do it in public. Most infants eat every other hour when they are like 3 weeks old and they really don't need to be going out anywhere at that age anyway. I scheduled errands around their feeding times without them. I also cleaned myself off before and after. My kids didn't play on the floor until they were older and then, it was on blankets or in the play pen, not on the floor itself. At the age where they are nursing that often, they aren't playing at all. They are swinging, eating, sleeping and being held. Once they are mobile, they can wait a half hour until you get somewhere private to feed them. Perhaps more private nursing lounges in our society would be appropriate because it truly is disgusting to go into a bathroom to nurse. I hated when people came over to see the baby when they were really little because I spent most of my time in another room feeding them. To me, it's a private thing to be done in private.
Every working mother I know who nursed also pumped and put it in bottles and it didn't deter the baby from taking the breast again at all. They even gave my babies sugar water in a bottle in the hospital and it didn't affect their ability to latch on or nurse. I hear that argument all the time, but have never seen it happen.
Within about 6 weeks, most babies are eating every 3 to 4 hours and you can definitely plan around that. I didn't feed my kids babyfood, bottles, etc in public either. There was no reason to. My schedule revolved around their schedule. Within 6 months, they're starting on food.
I would have never felt comfortable nursing in public and don't wish to see others doing so. That said, I have no problem with the cover of that magazine. It shows nothing and is appropriate for the audience of the magazine.
Just my opinion.