Breastfeeding in public experience

[fallingandlaughing]

DD is nearly one year old.

So I have a year of breastfeeding in public (and private!) under my belt.

In all that time I have received a negative response... never! People rarely notice. If they do, they don't tend to comment, apart from older people who may say "Lovely" or "Well done". Once I was breastfeeding her on the bus and a very elderly man offered to hold her while I was eating. I explained she was eating too and he was amazed, and very impressed that we could multitask like that!

I just wanted anyone starting out BF to know about this. With all the controvery whipped up in the media lately you wwould think that there is a lot of negativeity amongst the general public. But that's not my experience.

I breastfed sitting at a table outside a cafe in the middle of Paris with a big glass of wine in front of me . No comments.
I also breastfed DD all around Japan (cafes/restaurants/trains), with no comments.
No comments either in Brighton where I live.
Not bf at the moment but DC2 due in 3 weeks so will soon be starting again! Am looking forward to it.

I bought some cheap T-shirts from Sainsburys. They had an inbuilt "support" which was basically a second layer of material around the boobs with elastic beneath. I made a slit just over the nipple area on the outershell, then turned the vest inside out and it became a feeding vest as the elasticated outer layer could be lifted up with just the nipple poking through the underlayer to allow for feeding.

I only had positive comments in the 2 and a half years I fed DD (who's now 11). No-one ever said anything rude or disrespectful (apart from my aunt and uncle who have so many ishoos about what other people think and what is or isn't acceptable ). Lots of friendly comments, lots of smiles.

Primark for vests. Definitely.

I got my confidence up by feeding at baby groups and then out in groups with other mums. I was nervous and embarrassed at first, more than I thought I'd be, but now i'm a pro.

I'm lucky that I live in a very bf friendly area and never had anything but positive responses.

Primark for vests, in normal women's clothes for stretchy ones but in the PJ section there are stretchy vests with built in support - £2.50. Brought loads of them to sleep in as they hold the breast pads without a bra and matched the colours with some nice pairs of pj bottoms

Which vests did you get in Primark? I stocked up on the £2 ones and they all shrank in the first wash.

The vests in the pj section are better. They have a bit of lace around the top and hidden support panel around the bust. Normally in cream, white, bright pink, orange. They were hidden last time I went in, on a pillar, I had to ask where they were!