Your experience of nursing/breastfeeding covers/shawls

[Cocacolathanks]

Hello,

Are you currently using nursing covers/breastfeeding shawls? Or have you used them in the past?

Are they any good? Would you recommend to other mums? Also, is there anything annoying/negative about them?

I've not used them before but want to know if they're useful to other mums.


Thank you! :)

[pigsDOfly]

I breastfed all my babies in the 80s I bf whenever and wherever I needed to and never felt the need to cover myself up as if I was doing something immodest, so would never have used one.

I wasn't going to subjected my babies to the discomfort of feeding whilst under what is, effectively, a blanket.

My DD who currently has a young family has bf her babies and would also never use one.

If people don't want to see a woman bf then they don't have to look.

[OwlinaTree]

The vest under loose top is the best option, vest down, top up and you are not exposing anything!

[AngelaScandal]

Used to shove DS up top to latch on and let him off. He seemed happy enough up there!

[Itisbetter]

You bf three babies yourself but need others to tell you their experience?

[Akindelle]

I liked to be covered up but just threw an ordinary pashmina over my shoulder.

[Newmumatlast]

I never used one. I would wear a vest top with straps down under my top and a nursing bra. I'd lift my top at the side and the baby obscured my nipple and vest the rest. For a bit more privacy I would put the corner of a muslin cloth under my bra strap to secure it and use that to cover baby and boob

[MadameMeursault]

Nope. Wopped me tits out all over the place, didn’t care! Actually I had problems with latching on so I needed to see what they were doing. No way would I have covered up though even if this wasn’t an issue, why should I? We as a society need to normalise breastfeeding, not make it something that should be hidden away.

[MadameMeursault]

If people don't want to see a woman bf then they don't have to look.

If people don’t want to see a woman bf they need to take a good long look at themselves and try to work out why that would be. Then they need to re-educate themselves and stop being a twat.

[ItsIslandTime]

Pleasantly surprised to hear the older women were not bothered about public breastfeeding

Lol, I think I might be an 'older women' - you do realise a lot of us 'older women' breast fed and aren't old prudes!

I didn't use shawls but some of my pals did. I used to hoik my top up and plug the kids in underneath so my teeshirt provided a bit of cover.

[BurpingFrog]

I did sometimes use one in the early days, mainly because I felt it got us focused and there was sometimes a lot of flailing (tongue tie etc)! The one I used had a piece of curved boning in the top so I could easily see my baby’s face/have eye contact just by looking down and didn’t have to lift any shawl out of the way. It was called a Bebe au lait and I got it on eBay for a couple of pounds (I wouldn’t pay full price, especially as it might well only be used for a few days/weeks) so maybe you could recommend that or another like it since you say your relatives have specifically said they are wanting to cover up. I would leave them to get their own covers though. They might change their minds once their babies are here and instead you could get them something they’re more likely to get longer term use out of.

[Cocacolathanks]

@Itisbetter
I didn’t ask for breastfeeding experiences, I asked for experiences of using nursing covers/shawls as they’re something I haven’t used. As mentioned before, the new mums in my extended family expressed slight discomfort at the thought of breastfeeding in public (they're first time mums so I understand it can be daunting) and I simply wondering if shawls were useful or unnecessary. That’s all


@ItsIslandTime My apologies, I wasn’t linking the age of the women to their perception of public feeding at all. I just used it as a descriptor which is what the original poster who told the story used to describe them! I’m not particularly young myself and tbh in my family I’ve noticed it’s the ‘older’ women who encouraged us to breastfeed more openly! Lol

[Cocacolathanks]

Thank you to everyone who sent in a reply, been great reading them all!

I definitely won’t be bothering with the shawls/covers anytime soon!

And just a disclaimer: absolutely nothing against mums who feed openly! As I said, I was one too It’s just that I try to acknowledge the fact that not all mums want to feed openly in public for various reasons X

[Kokeshi123]

I loved mine and used it all the time.

I don't want to have to restrict my clothing choices to loose-fitting separates or wear two layers in hot weather. And my baby was distractible and tended to come off and rubberneck her surroundings. No thank you.

I tried at first using a regular shawl, but it was constantly in danger of slipping off and made me feel very tense. My DH, watching me struggle, basically went out and bought me a purpose-designed cover and said "Give this a try"---it was so much better. Did not slide off. Stiffened band at the top meant I could look down and see the baby, and the baby had plenty of air/space rather than having fabric dripping all over her face.

I don't care what other people do but I really liked mine.

[TwoShades1]

I sort of tried to but it didn’t really work and I wasn’t that fussed. Initially when DD was small it was just hard to coordinate baby and cover as I had a lot of milk and a fast letdown. So my main focus was not drowning the baby or covering both of us in milk. Then I tried again around five months as she was getting easily distracted and coming off boob a lot. But she just used to grab the fabric and play with it, so I gave up again. Too much hassle in my opinion, feeding without was more discreet as I wasn’t flapping around with a giant bit of fabric and juggling a baby.

[Namechangeymcnamechange11]

Definitely not an appropriate gift. It sends the message that they 'should' be covering up, or that they 'should'be breastfeeding - they could struggle/dislike it/decide on formula?

In the early days of DC1, I tried to cover up with a thin scarf, for my own peace of mind. It was quickly ditched. I ended up not even bothering in our church and just did a t shirt up, nursing vest down if I wanted a bit of cover. Now I'm feeding DC2, I don't think any scarves have even left the drawer. Close family and friends have had plenty of glimpses of boob before 🤷

What about some big muslins as a gift? MIL gifted me some lovely soft HUGE ones, with a lovely pattern. They'd be handy if they do really want to 'cover up' without being a dedicated breastfeeding cover. Handy to be there for burping the baby too

[Itisbetter]

But if in your family “older mums” are the ones to encourage more relaxed ideas about bfing then why would you as an “older mum” want to gift a cover??? You know they aren’t “necessary” as you didn’t use one yourself. Are you sure you aren’t selling them or planning to?

[sqirrelfriends]

I used a giant muslin tucked into my bra. DS would get far too hot and liked a look round so got very good at whipping it off from a young age.

[FTMF30]

I was uncomfortable with breastfeeding but never used shawls.
I sed breastfeeding bras that unclip at the front and breastfeeding tops like this:
www.newlook.com/uk/womens/clothing/tops/maternity-mid-pink-wrap-nursing-top/p/658226273?extcam=UK_PPC_PLA_Google_DV_m&_cclid=Google_Cj0KCQjws536BRDTARIsANeUZ58lZP8fUrvPibwxmJXgxNdHtvwcOfPDdmzUEJWPiLss2oI26LIC7FcaAoRSEALw_wcB&gclid=Cj0KCQjws536BRDTARIsANeUZ58lZP8fUrvPibwxmJXgxNdHtvwcOfPDdmzUEJWPiLss2oI26LIC7FcaAoRSEALw_wcB

Made me feel much more comfortable with doing it in public.

[sanityisamyth]

I bought one but hardly used it. It was more of a faff and attracted more attention than I would have got otherwise. DS also didn't like it and kept trying to scramble out, which distracted him from feeding so made it very messy as he kept pulling off and milk went everywhere!

[ShebaShimmyShake]

I used one in public until she was about six months,then it became impossible as she was a meats pulling it off. I had all my comebacks prepared for if anyone said anything, but nobody ever did, except to compliment me. I had no trouble at all.

[ShebaShimmyShake]

A meats? Always. Fuck you, drunk auto correct.

[GlennRheeismyfavourite]

Never used one and wouldn't want one as a present. I didn't feel the need to cover up and there was nothing to see anyway!!! Don't plan to with baby on the way now.

[Lalapurple]

Breastfeeding friendly clothes would be a better gift - they can help you feel a bit more comfortable in public, especially as you get used to it.
Covers just make people look!

[Lalapurple]

Just to add not that I think mum's need to be discreet - just clothes can help with confidence since in our society breastfeeding in public is seen as a "thing"

[Magissa]

My three DC are all adults now but all were bf. I always wore a skirt and top or jeans and top. Just lift up the top a bit and latch on. The top and the baby hide everything. Never ever had any issue. A couple of years ago two co-workers brought their new babies in to the office. Both sat there nursing covered with an apron type thing. Babies totally covered. It looked so odd and obvious. Also no eye contact with baby.