Showing everything when breastfeeding

[sadkoala]

I am prepared to be flamed but I am genuinely not being goady just curious here.

AIBU to ask why some women choose to show their entire boob/breast when feeding their babies rather than wear breastfeeding tops and/or do the popular vest under top thing?
And I don't mean ones that might do it in the summer when you might only wear one layer etc

I've BF both my DC's and apart from the beginnings when they were a few weeks old and getting the hang of it I've found it really simple to make sure I'm not showing much if anything and found it easy to just wear a vest under my top and feed that way.
Personally I'd not feel comfortable whipping my whole breast out for everyone to see in public especially since I don't find it necessary in order to be able to feed my baby.
I don't mind other people doing that and I understand that some people don't care and/or are completely fine doing that so I'm not passing any nasty judgement here.

But I've been wondering this for a while and I'm just curious as to why some people do it - is it just ease?
Does the attention not bother them?

I saw a lady in a busy cafe today take her jumper off, lower her whole vest down and expose her full bra and pull one side completely down to feed her 1yo. I didn't really bat an eyelid but for a second you could literally hear a pin drop in the place.

Is it OTT or does it not matter?

I’ve never seen this! And I’ve seen lots of women breastfeeding very discreetly (it makes me awkward as fuck, but that’s my problem)

My baby would tolerate a shawl, muslin etc. I could do 1 up, 1 down but that's only when wearing a jumper and vest top. Sometimes I'd be wearing a v neck dress or denim shirt. I've got big boobs and always felt self conscious but needs must. Does this answer your question?

What do you think of women who go topless on beaches? Men who take their shirts off in the summer?

I'd prefer not to, but I'm not very dexterous, my boobs are bigger than dc2s head and I don't care enough to go and hide somewhere. The only time I seem capable of semi modesty is when I'm feeding and DC is in his sling as I'm walking around.

I'm not offended by your question, but why do you care? It's just a lump of fatty tissue with a nipple on that you can't see as it's in the baby's mouth.

Second baby I quite frankly don't have the energy or shame factor to give a flying fuck

Haha yes! Reminds me of this American advert:

You might be talking about me. I often wear just a vest and pull it down. It’s been too hot lately to wear two tops and sometimes I’d rather wear a vest than a feeding top. I’ve lost a lot of weight since giving birth and I have limited feeding clothes that fit.
My baby is 9 months and likes looking around so sometimes pulls on and off. Yes it’s annoying but there’s not a lot I can do about her doing that.
She’s never wanted to feed under a scarf or muslin. If I tried now she’d just play peekaboo with it.
As a previous poster has said, my nipples aren’t any more offensive than a man’s. If you don’t like it you are free to look away.

Oh intriguing!

I am one of two BF mums wearing vest style tops in a cafe today. I BF my large 8mo and didn’t cover fully although realistically all you would’ve seen was my cleavage.

I did it because it was hot in there, my child is wriggly and likes to see and I know how I feed my child has fuck all to do with anybody else. HTH.

It's less hassle. Plus when I'm feeding in the baby carrier it's pretty tough to do all sorts of pulling different tops every which way. Plop over the neck of my top, sorted. I've never really cared much for modesty anyway, breasts are breasts!

Oh the other BF Mum I was with didn’t cover either

I genuinely can not understand how anyone finds it in themselves to care how much breast someone shows when feeding their baby 🤷🏻‍♀️

I am the kind of woman I suspect really annoys these 'shock horror women feeding people'. I could not care less.

I am feeding my toddler. I mainly sling feed, so feed everywhere we go. Rope bridge over the Atlantic, walking up tight castle steps, through busy shopping centres, on public transport, walking down the high Street, while buying my shopping, watching my elder child in classes, at parents evenings, Meetings with various construction professionals etc etc. Ouod is not possible in the sling and breastfeeding tops don't work either. I only wear deep V clothes. Occasionally I am sitting down when feeding so boob over the top it is.

I get that seeing someone's boobs can make some people feel uncomfortable. On the very rare occasions that it's happened as you describe, then I do feel a bit uncomfortable however I also recognise that this is my issue and they shouldn't have to cover up because of how it makes me feel.

It pisses me off so much when people kindly give permission to women to use their breasts for their primary purpose, but stipulate that they should be “discreet”
Is there nothing that women do that we can’t be shamed for? I’m so sick of it.
Fuck. Off.

I've never noticed anyone doing this but people always seem to comment on women exposing themselves completely while breastfeeding. Maybe just don't look and mind your own business?

I love you MissCherryCakeyBun

Well because many babies hate being covered up with blankets/flapping bits of material over their heads whilst feeding and start wrestling them off or yelling or refusing to latch. This undoubtedly draws more attention to the breastfeeding mother than if they had just pulled their top to one side and just popped the baby on.

I wear shirts or blouses and literally unbutton them, pull to one side and pop baby on. You can see the top half of my boob and I'm sure people have caught sight of a nipple in the process but tbh I don't care. I've never seen anyone staring at me whilst doing it or had any awkward incidents involving people telling me to leave or making me feel uncomfortable. I don't think most people could care less that I'm feeding my baby using my boobs. It's just not that interesting.

What I find bizarre is that no one cares less about a woman wearing a low cut top that shows a huge amount of cleavage. Or women going topless on beaches. Yet we have threads like this asking why breastfeeding mothers are showing part of their boobs when feeding their babies. It's just annoyingly odd.

Maybe the people who don't want to see a bit of boob carry around a sheet to drape over their own heads?

Because I like the attention clearly!

I never covered purely because I couldn't be bothered. Simple as that really. If anybody had an issue I would point in another direction, when they turned their heads to see what I was pointing at I would then say 'see, it is possible to look away'

Hilarious. As if I was ever going to devise a whole new wardrobe for 12 months+ to avoid upsetting prudes.

I suppose some women find breastfeeding easier that way.

Although I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of women I’ve seen breastfeeding in public (including at baby groups) with their breast completely out of their clothes.

It’s not exactly an everyday sight. But it’s easy enough to avert your gaze if it bothers you.

Only read first page but I did that... I didn't know about breastfeeding tips or the one up, one down thing I had seen covers but don't like themm. It never occurred to me that there was another way other than wear a scoop or v neck and take the whole boob out the top. As most of my tips were v anyway it just made sense, I didn't buy anything new. Not really showing everything though - I had to take the whole boob out, nipple would be covered by my hand as I took bra down and then by baby's head. The top of my breast which you could see above her head was visible anyway in a v neck. Just décolletage innit?

So my reasons were... It seemed obvious. I didn't feel it was indiscreet. I don't really have body issues anyway but all sense of shame on that front was dead in me anyway after giving birth in front of five strangers.

Also OP, do you have any idea how hard it is to come by breastfeeding friendly clothes for a lot of people and how expensive they are? It is the absolute bane of my life at the moment, finding clothes accessible enough to be able to feed my child, let alone making sure they’re modest enough whilst doing it.

Not only that but as I’m sure you know as an experienced breastfeeder () that you tend to shed a shit load of weight quite quickly and thus, any ‘suitable’ attire you may acquire in anticipation of breastfeeding your baby, suddenly appears to be tent like by 7 months and unwearable. I don’t have the time, the inclination, the money or frankly, the energy to be shopping for new clothes every couple of months.

I've always tried to be discreet while breastfeeding but that's for my own sake, however I do swear by the the if you don't like it don't look???

I think it's unnecessary to lob out your whole boob - of course it is possible to be discreet when breast feeding but some women maybe want to make a point of creating awareness. Which of course is ok - but just, well, a bit unnecessary.

I wouldn't particularly want to see ladies lob out their boobs especially if they were massive watermelon type - but each to their own - I wouldn't be offended, I would just look away.

I'm tandem feeding twins. It's almost impossible to do it subtly!