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Rollers, agree with Hunker. Small babies don't mind being covered up but once they develop an attitude they won't tolerate it at all! btw my FIL got used to the occasional flash of boob and recently commented to my Mum that my ds3 who was bf for 2.8 years "Got loads of the fresh milk and it brought him on great!"
Rollers, don't be put off that easily! You were rude - defensively, I guess.
But I was actually trying to prevent you making an expensive mistake - if your baby's under a couple of months old and you're planning on breastfeeding for long - because most babies over about 8 weeks won't go in a tent to breastfeed.
While these days nursing in public is a non issue, when my DD was a newborn I did use a nursing cover and it helped me build my confidence whilst my baby was tiny. Though I think they have limited use, as no way my DD would of tolerated a nursing cover as an older baby.
I am about to get one of these, like some of my NCT pals, I am not a prude and quite happy to breastfeed wherever and whenever but there are just times when my baby decides he doesn't want to feed properly and will reel off my breast and expose me in all my glory. Sorry but when i am chatting to my father in law I would rather this didn't happen, yes I could manage with a muslin or the like and do currently (very happily), but there are times when I would like to be more covered or can't always wear "ideal" breastfeeding clothes (a wedding and a funeral so far). You other mums should calm down a bit you sound really rather militant...
I just used a shawl if I felt I was somewhere where discreteness was required. Unwrapped the baby and draped it over my shoulder and the baby just for latching on really. Why carry around anything extra?
That belly-hugger makes a lot of sense to me - with autumn and winter babies I did get chilly during feeding, especially out-of-doors!
But the bebe au lait seems to me to be just another thing to lug around with you. Definitely 'invest' in some baggy tops that you can just pull up from the bottom (and you can if you like peek in through the neckline to watch your bub) and see how you go before getting something like this.
An over-the-shoulder sling would be far more useful, something like a Hugagbabe or a Coorie (both of which I've use and both are excellent for discreet feeding). At least, I think those are the names - it's been so long now for me!
I got these when I was pregnant which are pretty much the same thing as the belly hugger. I bought a set of 3 to wear with my non-pg-lady clothes while I was the size of a house, but still use them all the time for bf - in fact, I even wear one in bed under my jamas to keep my tummy warm when feeding at night.
They are very useful - similar to wearing a vest top but with no hoiking down to do. Possibly it's the way I'm built, but if I have to haul a nork over the top of a vest, it sort of sits there at an alarming angle and DD has a tendency to come unlatched and get sprayed in the eye.
I must be built differently to everyone here. I never had any problem with my tummy showing just my boobs but as I say - ds always fed for 40 mins or so in the early weeks and in that time needed to relatch 10 times or more so maybe we were an odd example.
This was a lifesaver for me but I was very nervous about bfeeding in public (enormous boobs). Pashima cover was no good as it kept slipping off and ds was a terrible bob on bob off baby from the beginning. I used it loads - sorry as I seem to be the only one.
The only thing is as ds got older he didn't like it and kicked it/pulled it off but that was when he was nearer 5 months old and I was less embarred by the whole thing then though to be honest I stoppped bfeeding in public after about 6/7 months anyway but that is just me.
Best thing about it was being able to see the baby and relatch him without having to hold on to a piece of cloth. It was vey light so not too hot in warm weather.
Oh dear! <wipes tears from eyes emoticon> Stop it, it hurts!
"Mom looks stylish and trendy while feeding baby." Wearing a bag?!
"Nursing while out and about or while entertaining family and friends is no longer stressful." Because no one will sit with you - they'll all be off wetting themselves with laughter.
"Bebe au Lait™ nursing covers help baby to relax" No self-respecting baby is going to relax with a bag on its head. You've only got to look at the photo of the baby trying to kick its way out of one.
And they are actually selling them as 'Hooter Hiders'??? I thought you lot were joking!
And they want nearly 20 quid for this, ex-shipping...
That Hooter Hider is ridiculous! I can just imagine using one of those and people reporting you for having a baby in your shopping bag! Or coming over to have a closer look which defeats the object of the exercise!
I was told that I was a very discreet breast feeding mum but then realising that it wasn't me been really discreet it was just because DD was latching very easily and after few seconds my shirt would fall on her head and so nobody was realising that she was still there!!!!
I really wouldn't worry about what to wear while breastfeeding, this world is gone so insane!!! I remember travelling in India years ago, and in buses, train station etc, women had their breast out to feed their babies... nobody seemed to care!!!
Blimey, that belly hugger thing is smart. One of the things I hated about bf-ing a younger baby was that we spent a lot of time outdoors and it was ruddy awful having to pull up your top on a November day.
Plus as you say the embarrassment of exposing stretch marked flesh. I wore a shirt and undid the top buttons at first because at least the view of my huge exposed breasts was quite nice, nicer than my huge exposed belly
My breast-feeding days are long gone, never to return, so I no longer have any reason to expose my surplus to requirement spare tyres but I think that belly hugger (hate the word belly) thing looks like a really good idea.
I have the black one and am toying with getting another colour or possibly another black one.
It's brilliant, I love it. I wore it to a wedding the other day and it was far more discreet and didn't interfere with what I wanted to wear in the same way as a vest hitched one way over mahoosive norks and a top hitched tother.
Am I always joking on here or something?!
Watch this space tonight for me getting fecking serious then.
Could someone bump up the thread with the link to the breastfeeding survey so everyone can have their say to the people that matter. I got a bit militant on the subject and damn near wrote an essay on the subject. I was so free and easy with the whole bfing in public it used to make my sister blush.
I'm sorry I normally just read first post then I answer then I go back to see what others have said
have now seen website .. and have to say I'm ROFLMAO .... .. its an old lady's shopping bag that almost has arrows on it going 'look at me my breast is naked under this'
I meant to refer to the OP's article. I suppose I just really didn't give a toss about b/feeding in public and never had a problem with it, once I got past the first few weeks. But I do understand how it could be difficult if you are shy. (I've posted this before but bf got told off in an NT cafe for breastfeeding 'provocatively' - snort!)
in my short period of breastfeeding i used to wear a vest underneath... pull that down and my top up... so still had a covering over my hideous rolls of fat!
I agree ks - if these things catch on I would find it a depressing retrogressive step. But I'm not sure it is "english" - it's coming from our friends from across the Atlantic and I think in many ways they are far more prudish than we are (think about Janet Jackson and laws about children not being allowed to be neked on the beach) (although prudishness, of course shouldn't come into it - we're taking b-feeding. agree about the pic with the baby's legs dangling out.
The girls are right, you do not need any gizmo to feed a baby discretly in a public place, within a very short space of time it will be second nature to you so do not worry about it now or later. If absolutely necessary a thin cover such as a cot sheet or light blanket thrown over your shoulder but even this shouldn't be necessary, just don't wear something tight that you have to wriggle up etc. Save your money for something nice to wear when the baggy t-shirts arn't needed anymore.
I have no problem showing anyone my norks when feeding, although usually feed discreetly because it's easier! I just loathe having chilly kidneys when I feed!
This sort of depresses me - it seems to really underline the misconception that breasts are on display during feeding - I don't think they are usually - and also that there is a need to 'cover up'. I suppose if the desire to do so comes from women themselves, and they feel they have to or need to, then it's fine. But it's so bloody - English. Sigh.
I found even with norks the size of a small planet that once I'd got into any sort of situation where I didn't need to position baby and breast carefully and publicly, the child's head had grown to a fairly obscuring size.
Look at the pics on that bebe au lait website, by the way - click gallery to have a laugh!
The woman sitting at the restaurant table looks very discreet, doesn't she.....NOT.
Also pmsl at the one with the baby's legs sticking out of one end....can you honestly see a baby over about six weeks putting up with this sort of thing??!
Look, why don't all mothers buy a tent they can pitch whenever their baby wants to feed - obviously, it would have to be one you can erect with one hand, but <ping!!!!> up goes the tent around mother and baby wherever they happen to be!!
Very handy, very discreet, and available in trendy flower designs!
The belly hugger is actually more useful, seeing as in my experience, mothers hate the thought of their rolls of fat being on display....
Em.....don't waste your dosh on hooter hiders (blurgh!). Just wear the right sort of comfy clothing and get on with it!!
Wearing a one sided carrier bag with straps on just looks daft!
sorry but that pic made me laugh. looks like you've got your baby in a shopping bag! (albeit a nicely patterned one). No I think this is really a case of unnecessary baby product marketing. You'd probably attract far more attention becuase people would wonder what on earth it was. I fed in ordinary t-shirts and managed to be wholly discreet. it does, like someone else said, maybe take a couple of days to refine your technique, especially, I found, with breast pads, but after that you'll be fine.
I'd also suggest waiting to see how you get on - this just seems to be yet another baby thing that we don't actually need. Most women manage to feed discreetly just fine - even with a standard loose top you can pretty much 'hide' what you're doing.
My bf tops are from JoJo and they work fine on the whole. I wouldn't want the baby covered up like that personally. In the early days you really need to have everything hanging out so you can see what you are doing, and that the baby is on right, and once you get past that stage (if you're like me!) you won't care / will be able to feed fairly discreetly anyway.
Hallo, I am a mum to be (in about 4 weeks!) and have been trying to find some practical and discreet breastfeeding tops but there aren't many around! So i came across this invention that has had rave reviews in the US but I was wondering if anyone has tried it here?
Want to know how useful it is?
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!!! I remember travelling in India years ago, and in buses, train station etc, women had their breast out to feed their babies... nobody seemed to care!!! 
