Nursing apron?

[MrsCLH]

Anyone used one of these? What did you think?

I'm slightly concerned that I'll never be coordinated enough to feed discreetly in public! DS is only 2 weeks old but I'm mostly having to use shields at the moment due to inverted nipples which makes it even more difficult to feed without showing everything off! I thought I might try one of these nursing apron thingies and just wondered what others' experiences of them were.

Thanks

Mrs H x

I've never used one myself but some babies do not like being covered up. It's totally normal to feel nervous about BF in public for the first time. There are a few things you can do to build up your confidence a bit, here are some things you could try-
Wear a stretchy vest like these under your normal top. You can pull one up and one down so that your baby can latch on, but no one will be able to see.
Try practising in front of a mirror so that you can see what other people would see. You might be surprised at how little is on show.
Go to a BF group and try BF there, you will be able to practise a bit without worrying about nip slips.
Go with a breastfeeding friend so that you can both do it.
Try covering with a muslin square until your baby is latched on and then take it off.

If you still don't feel confident then by all means give the nursing cover a go.

I have a bebe au lait. But I only use it when wearing dresses. The type where you have to reveal the whole chest to get to the boob. Normally I just use a boob tube or stretchy vest under any top like EauRouge.

If it's just confidence rather than an inherent wish to not BF in public places I think it will come in time. When DS2 was tiny I walked to a sure start centre with him yelling to BF away from possible tut tutting. Now he's nearly 6 months he just latches on wherever and I feel fine with it. I did try covering him with a blanket or a muslin square but he hated it and squirmed to get it off. I second (third, fourth?) the stretchy vests idea. You get more coordinated the more you do it.

I have a cover which was invaluable to get started with but now hardly use it as have had enough practise to do it discreetly using the vest/top method. It gave me the confidence to know I'd be ok feeding wherever we went which made the early weeks loads more relaxed. I take it with me now, as someone else said, if I'm wearing a dress or something that needs pulling down rather than up.

I've never used one either - I'm not coordinated enough to manage a baby, my clothes and a tent. However, it might work for you.

If it helps, 2 weeks in I couldn't imagine getting out of the house, let alone bf-ing out there! By 4 weeks I was sat on a bench in a shopping centre feeding my DD, because it was just too far to find somewhere discreet. I was using shields by that point too.

I also started off by going to the surestart bf support group and built it up from there.

And you'll be amazed at how discreet your efforts actually are, no matter how uncoordinated you feel! Well done for making it this far too. The first two weeks are hard.

I'm the same as AyeWhySwim... I used a bebe au lait all the time until fairly recently. Ironically it does tend to draw more attention than if you just fed but it gave me confidence in the early days. I would definitely recommend it. It is even useful now as DD has become nosy and tends to pull off me in public if someone talks etc which gives everyone a right eyeful!

I got the b&w apron which kept her occupied in the early days, gave her something to stare at while feeding. It has little pockets in the corners which would be ideal for shields too. I always found it easy to latch her on but the dismount was the tricky one