Congrats! I’ve always been too lazy to cover up, plus it makes my MIL crazy, which is always a bonus for me!

First off, I want to say that I’m a big fan of yours! I love your sense of humor, your down-to-earth-ness, your creativity, your love of life, your refreshing perspectives. Second off, I wanna say that this makes me miss breastfeeding SOOO badly! My little guy was born very prematurely, weighing 2.5 lbs at birth & was in the NICU, fed through a feeding tube his first couple of months of life. His first time eating, he got 1 cc, which is the equivalent of 1/5th of a teaspoon – imagine how tiny of an amount that is! Oh, the memories, we would just celebrate every time the doctors allowed him to have 1 cc more! By the end of his first week, he was up to 3 cc’s (3/5ths of a teaspoon) and slowly got more and more until he was up to 45 cc’s (1.5 oz) by the time he was able to be discharged – (still 1.5 oz at one feeding for a 2-month old is still not a lot!). I faithfully pumped that entire time he was in the hospital using the pump they had in his room & froze all the extra milk. When he was able to come home, I had 2 GIANT freezer bags full of boob milk, i thought would last til he was 2! Anyway, breastfeeding wasn’t without it’s trials…even at 4.5 lbs, the mouth on that little munchkin was TINY & it was a lot of work for him to open it big enough to fit around his mama’s boobies. But, we were learning. Sadly, my pump at home was garbage & my baby was still eating such tiny amounts (plus he had to have high calorie formula bottles 4 times per day because he couldn’t get up to 5 lbs.), so I started losing my milk supply until I was dried up. When I finally realized this was happening, I desperately pumped/breastfed around the clock for 3 days until my nipples bled and I still had no food for the little guy. After several days of bawling, I relented and made the decision to switch to only bottles. Sadly, my freezer supply didn’t last as long as I had hoped, so at 7 months old, he is now entirely bottle fed. Happy to report, however, that he is now 13.5 pounds & growing everyday! I know we still have a special bond (much thanks to kangaroo time everyday for his first 3 months of life and the breastfeeding time that we did get), but seeing your updates about your adventures with breastfeeding make me miss it sooo much! You & Huck enjoy an extra special boobie dinner & bonding session for me and my little guy, ok?

Discreetly.

That’s flux! poemsandnovels.blogspot.com

I LOVE the tandem pictures! Way to go mamas!

EM–you just have to think: people see way, way, way, way, way more awful things on the subway than a mama feeding her baby. You can do it!

hahaha love it! the strangest place i’ve nursed was probably while shopping at a gap outlet… not in the dressing room, in the store. other contenders: eating a cinnamon roll at ikea, in a mall hallway, several times on a plane/in an airport… but some of those times i used a cover. on a plane, i found it was most comfortable and least dramatic to wear a big soft scarf that could be over the boob. it also made tucking the boob back in–the most challenging part of public nursing–much easier. have you ever been at home and you forgot to put your boob back in your bra/shirt? cause i did, several times.

I love this! I’ve been an uncovered breastfeeder since my first daughter was tiny. She looooooved to nurse and if I had sat down and covered up every time she wanted to nurse I would have the first year of her life swaddled in blankets and sitting still. ;-) My second daughter isn’t quite as voracious a nurser, but I have an older kid to keep up with so we often nurse on the go. And it’s a good thing I never bothered to cover up with my older daughter because my younger one has hated being covered up while nursing since birth.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bethanygronberg/5271881614/

I forgot to include my baby, Ever Elizabeth. She wants credit for busting a nursing move in public, too ;)

This is so beautiful. Thanks for sharing.

Nat, been following you this week, and I have to say, I love a courageous nursing woman. More power to you, not that you need any more. My wife nursed 7 children, My 3 grown daughters and daughters-in-law have nursed 9 little ones so far. So I might not be that creepy older gentleman after all, to comment on a baby/nursing blog. Today I have to say, you have taken over as my favorite mommy author. I love your spirit and voice. Keep it up, I will be watching.

Love all of these. I have quite a few on my blog but this is a good more recent one. http://www.adventuresinbabywearing.com/2011/01/breastfeeding-toddler.html

Steph

Uh, yeah, I’d totally nurse next to Christ or the Prophet. And I think they would be totally fine/proud of me for nourishing my child in it’s natural form. And any teenage boys or anyone else who thinks nursing is “smut” is ridiculous- and I’d know their parents never talked to them about anything including sexuality/motherhood/what the body is made for. If you think seeing a baby nurse is a sexual thing, then you got issues dude… This isn’t some feminist “girl power” movement here, this is nursing for crying out loud! Nursing is mentioned/revered in the bible several times (google it, if you haven’t read it, brah). We aren’t walking around with our boobs hanging out, we are discreetly feeding our children. And anyways, you’re just anonymous, so whatevs. wow that was long.

Yay for nursing babies. Everyone is so beautiful and well fed.

I just wrote a post about nursing my very early preemie son and weaning my almost-4 year old (funny how nursing can go on and on and on…)

http://6512andgrowing.wordpress.com/2011/04/25/a-tale-of-two-nursers/

These pictures are wonderfully sweet. As a nursing mother, I would like to say thank you. I have no problem nursing wherever I am. Although at times it has been one of the most exhausting and yes, frustrating experiences, it is by far one of the best memories I have with my children.

All the power to you, but I guess it’s not for me. Plus, my baby comes off at every interesting sound she hears nowadays, so it would be a nip show for all to see. A little too much for me, but hey…if you’re comfortable….

Love reading of your adventures in motherhood! I love “suckling” my chubbelina until recently she has taken to grabbing huge handfuls of flesh in her pudgy fist and pinching my boobs till they are literally black and blue!! I am still trying to come up with a method to discourage this….
http://www.thebreakingfeed.com

MY Jesus created breasts, and breastfeeding! Who cares where you are, if your bebe needs to drink, he needs to drink!!! Way to go Nat!

I have nursed my two kids without a cover everywhere! In France, where we traveled in 2007 with my (then) 7 month old DD, I nursed on the Metro, in a cab, in the Louvre (there’s a fun photo of us nursing in front of one of the many Madonna-and-child nursing portraits), in the Tuelleries Garden, ON the Eiffel Tower, below the Eiffel tower, having coffee at a cafe, in grocery stores, walking around the streets. At home I nurse everywhere – in church, shopping, with all of my family members, I even nursed while pitching a prospective client!! If I’m out & about, I find a sling or Ergo carrier is easiest but mainly for the carrying and free hands. I do have a scarf for the ‘side boob’ (in a carrier, the sides of your breasts exposed; I drape a scarf around my neck and down the sides, baby is not covered) but in a museum in France, two Italian ladies poked their heads in around the scarf to coo at the nursing baby! (the french? not so much).