I swore at the radio when that women blathered about discretion and covers.
If my friend who had been BFing her DC for a year can post a picture of me "hugging" baby on FB without realising what I was doing, then I can't be causing many people embarrasment or offence.
DS2 was fed poolside a few weeks ago. At 3m, feeds are still random and frequent. It was a 30 min swiming lesson for DS1 (2) , and DS2 was in the car seat poolside, so when he got angsty, DS1 and I came out of the water sat on the bench and DS2 had a 5min feed. We were then able to resume the session. DS2 will have lessons in the same pool from next month, and the most practical option is to get out and feed at the side again rather than going for a cold trip through the shower zone, to the cold changing rooms. With DS1 in tow, a lot of time would be wasted, and he'd be very likely to tantrum as he'd think his lesson was finishing early. Dealing with two screaming infants on wet floors doesn't seem like a safe idea to me.
Maybe in a leisure pool like Centre Parcs, feeding in the pool could be more tempting where you have seating areas. I wear a halter neck tankini and pulling the material to the side is no different to a shirt or drop down vest.
I've never yet picked up on a negative vibe when feeding in public. I've had occasional knowing smiles and that's it. Possibly the person least comfortable has been DM. She was from the FF era and had no support at her short attempts to BF, and hiding upstairs seemed to be expected. She has got more used to it with time.
I think a lot of it is about "knowing". No one knows if I'm leaking milk in a pool, and no one goes "Eww". People aren't offended if they don't realise you're feeding, it's when they know. From other peoples' reports of very negative family, a lot of it seems to be about control, and the mother not "sharing" the baby.