Nursing in Public/nursing Covers

Yes, covers really help - so long as you get a good one. I highly recommend hooter hiders. They are wonderful! If baby moves, off comes blanket! Not with hooter hiders! It goes around your neck and allows you to look down at baby and allows baby to breathe. Love them.

I have a bebe au lait, and I absolutely love it! When you are on the plane, yes it will be tight, but many people are supportive of breastfeeding. I actually breastfed my baby while sitting in the middle seat next to a young father-to-be! It was not ideal, but he had a lot of questions about the process that I was happy to answer after we were settled in, if you know what I mean.

That being said, I am shy about it, too, mostly because I do not want to expose myself or offend other people. I think you can help yourself and your son quite a bit by practicing with the cover beforehand. I've found that when I travel, the best thing for M. to wear are a suit jacket or button-up sweater (great side coverage), a nursing tank, and a loose-fitting shirt.

I hope this helps!

I had a "Hooter Hider" and it worked really well! I agree with the previous poster... blankets come off really easily if your little one is long (at 10 months probably pretty active).

I nursed on the plane a couple of times b/c of the length of our trips to FL and would suggest (if you can) sit by the window w/ your husband in the center seat- try to avoid the aisle- lots of "audience" AND you get bumped every time someone walks by!

My SIL gave M. a cover. It was wonderful. After nursing two kids (not at the same time! LOL) using a blanket, and watching them sweat and get overheated and stuffy, I LOVED the thin cover.

As far as nursing on the plane, you can talk with the flight attendants to see if you can "sneak" into 1st class or somewhere else to get a little more privacy and space.

If you want to pay for shipping, I'll mail it to you (I think I still have it). I'm from IL. It's super lightweight so I can't imagine it would cost much.

I did the two-shirt solution described below. If I tried a cover of any kind, she used as a flag! Nursing HERE!

On the rare occasion I used a cover I just used a safety pin to pin a light recieving blanket to my shoulder. This kept the blanket from falling and wasn't some cumbersome contraption.

And relax, you will do fine nursing in public. No one on the plane will care either. They will be too busy sleeping, reading, or watching something electronic. :)

I got a nursing cover from http://www.favorsandflavors.net I personally prefer to be in a quiet area off to myself to nurse.

Check out http://www.bebeaulait.com/ - they have snazzy nursing covers. On a plane, it was easy to "hide" if you have the window seat. Ask the flight attendants for suggestions - I'm sure they'd be happy to help. If there's a less crowded gate area near your gate, I'd go there during the layovers, or ask the gate personnel for suggestions. I traveled cross country with my son a bunch of times during the first year of his life and it wasn't that bad. Wearing a baggy shirt also helps re coverage.

I made a cover never used it more then twice I think I tried blakets but my little girl will not stand a blanket over her while feeding I ended up layering and I wear a zip up sweater or a very low neckline sweater and a shirt underneath that way I can pull the breast out without others seeing. Now I don't even use a blanket, My friends have said they can never see anything! Just a thought. I worked very hard to be sucessful nursing this one so I told myself not to even worry, we are blessed to be nursing so I decided not to worry.

Whatever you decide to try, try it at home first to see if it will even work. My daughter would not nurse under cover, and wouldn't stop looking around herself long enough to nurse in public past 9 months. She would just wait until we were home, no matter how many hours that was. On your layovers, there will likely be a place you can find that is private to nurse. I know I nursed in restroom stalls, sometimes, if nothing else was available.

at 10 mos i would imagine your baby is active, at that age, covers and blankets were worse for M., the baby was always grabbing them and pulling them off and waving them around like a flag. i did much better wearing a tank top with a loose/stretchy neck that i could pull down under my breast, and a loose (maternity) t shirt over it that i could pull up. leaves very little exposed. a zip up sweatshirt on backwards is good to have, you can put it on backwards with your arms in the arms, keeps it more secure than a blanket. i bet if you asked a flight attendant, she could hook you up with a place to sit. a window seat works well too, thats where i sat and i nursed and pumped, no one paid M. any mind. oh, and by the way, when you are out and about, dressing rooms are a great place to nurse. grab anything off the rack and go in, private and comfortable.

First of all, good for you! And what a lucky little boy. Nursing during takeoff & landing can help pop your baby's ears so he doesn't get a headache!

I'm very self conscious about nursing in public too, so I got an Udder Cover. I like it, and it has a stiff neckline so I can see my baby, but it's kind of a pain sometimes. Taking it off & on usually messes up my hair, and it draws more attention to what I'm doing than if I didn't use it. It's a lot easier for M. to get my baby latched on, then cover her with a blanket to help block out noise & lights.

A good nursing top can help you feel more discreet. My favorite is Undercover Mama. You can find them on amazon or overstock.com. They hook right on your bra, so there's less fiddling with straps and fabric with a wiggly, hungry baby on your lap. If you wear one of those as an undershirt, you can probably nurse without a cover and without showing any skin.

I agree with getting a window seat, so you can turn to one side and feel like you have a little more privacy. Whoever is sitting right next to you is going to figure out what you're doing, unless they're deaf & blind, so just do what you need to do to feel comfortable.

Firstly good luck on your flight. My seven and half month old does not like when I use a cover and like your son gets distracted when we are in new places so taking a 20 hour flight and changing airports didn't help. I think a blanket would be fine but if you are going to buy a cover be sure to practice at home first to see how he reacts. Every time i tried to use one my son would fight with it leaving M. embarrassed and exposed. Before your flight call and ask for a seat where only one person is sitting next to you. Also if you have a big jacket and a blanket then that would help. I used a nursing top for the flight and a jacket which i pulled around to cover the side where i was feeding from and then i used a small luvie or wash cloth over my breast and that worked. Also at the airport gate I found a spot that was secluded and fed my son there so no one could really tell.

Something else might just work, a baby carrier. I used it when we took off and landed. You could have him face you and have it a bit loose and try to feed him that way. Not sure if it will work or not for you but worth a try. Again practice at home. Also garlic oil ear drops are amazing for helping with their ears.

if you sit by the window you can always turn towards the window so even if you didn't cover up no one can see. Also when you get on the plane ask the attendant if there are any seats on the side of the plane that are free and you could just sit there.

I used a nursing cover that I bought from Target (I'm not sure if they are still there, but it was relatively inexpensive and worked just fine). It hung around my neck, so falling wasn't a problem (blankets fall too easily). It worked so well that I used it for both my kids. The cover, plus a nursing shirt or just a shirt that's not too tight-fitting should be fine.

Also, I used to be really shy about nursing my first one in public, but I found that the more I did it, the more I was comfortable with it (although there were a few awkward moments where my daughter tried to pull the cover off, but they passed quickly). I just got tired of trying to find a private place to nurse, so I decided to just focus on my baby during those precious times (as long as I had my nursing cover, of course :-). Treasure those moments of nursing, because they pass by way too quickly (my kids are 8 and 6 now, and sometimes I still miss those bonding times with my kids when they were babies). Good luck!

so everyone has the hooder hider and its great because it leaves an opening to look in and keeps fabric off babies face. However since your son is all ready well established in his routine i think he will not like it. Sometimes I use it just to get a latch, then remove it and just use a burp cloth over the top of my breast so no skin shows. At this point i rarely use it. I layer my clothes in such a way that a can pull one shirt up over the breast and pull the under shirt down under my breast so only a bit of skin shows. You just need a little blanket for the latch and then babies head covers. It takes practice. The point is, its hard to get them to nurse under the cover as they get older, especially if you never trained them this way. I started out a very shy nurser, now i don't worry so much. If people get a peak, good for them. I'm over it. God made it this way so he must have also realized that you wouldn't be able to stop all accidental boobie shots. I'm not one of these nursing mothers who lets it all hang out. But i think if you attempt to keep covered thats all anyone can do. I don't want to make anyone uncomfortable, but heck, I'm sorry, God made boobies to feed babies sometimes, they are going to sneak out on you. My advice is try and relax. Its not that big of a deal.

Before buying a cover, you should try to practice with a blanket Some babies won't eat covered. My DD is also 10 months, and if I try to cover her while she is nursing she flips out... she will NOT do it! lol. The best thing I have found when I have to nurse her in public is to wear 2 shirts... a low-cut easy to pull down or button up on the bottom, and a loose top one. That way I can pull up the top one, and it is loose enough that I can use it to make a kind of 'wall' between myself and whoever is in close proximity to M. without actually covering her head (which is the part she hates). The bottom shirt gives M. my modesty, and I can usually pull it down just far enough to allow access, then tuck it close to my DD's mouth to expose as little as possible. It works pretty well for M.. Not quite as private as a nursing cover would be, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do! lol.

There was a free sling offer on the Mamapedia site recently--seven slings I believe--just pay for shipping--the top of it bows out to let the lil one breath. If your baby can't stand a cover, try a nursing tank under a shirt that is easy to pull up--the tank covers your bottom half well.

I love our Bebe Au Lait covers. Don't accept imitations - they are not as big, and don't have the pocket on the bottom corner. WELL worth the investment. I had two (one to use and one to wash) and they lasted well. Just don't put them in the dryer. (Hooter Hider is another brand of the Bebe Au Lait cover, but don't get an Udder Cover. They're knockoffs).

Of course nursing with a good cover is great, but mine at that age always threw the cover off!! It was horrible...LOL! So how about pumping and carrying bottles in an insulated bag with a big re-freezable ice block? I mean you can surely do it for the plane ride, you can just ask for a cup of hot water to set the bottle in to warm it up. It won't be bad trying to nurse in the airport I don't think bc you can find a roomy spot, but if the airplane is kind of tight, bottles could be a life saver. I think they still let you take bottles of breastmilk on a plane...not sure about that though. In that case you would have to go to the restroom and pump, yuck... So yeah, on second thought you might have to nurse!! A good nursing shawl that allows you to see baby is a life saver, good luck!!