we just got back from taking a 5 day trip with our 6 week old to visit our hometown, and i am SO tired. every day was packed with visiting people we haven't seen in ages (including my grandparents, DH's dad and brother and extended fam, my parents' church community, and our close friends from university).
so basically i spent every day breastfeeding in front of visitors. i felt a bit like an exotic animal in a zoo!! none of our friends have kids yet, so no one there has any personal experience with breastfeeding, and although both our moms breastfed us, there hasn't been a lactating woman around in a while i guess. i've never seen anyone breastfeed at our church either. every day we were in a new situation and i had to try and decide where and how to breastfeed (pub: easy! ... sitting right next to incredibly awkward FIL: not so easy!). it was really great in some ways... my dad was my biggest cheerleader, talking about how i was being a really great role-model, and crappy in others... like my DH being surprisingly uncomfortable with me feeding the baby in front of his family.
by monday, i was getting really tired of the whole NIP thing, and actually started craving a nice quiet room so the baby and I could take our sweet time. and after that much social interaction for so many days in a row, it was sort of nice to have an excuse to get out of way for a while and go take a nice little nursing nap.
anyway, there isn't really a point to this, except i'm really proud of my little preemie who now weighs 10 pounds (!) and nursed like a champ in a million different situations, and i'm more than a little concerned by my DH's unexpected prudishness. he really was quite uncomfortable, and i didn't think he would be. i'm wondering whether he'll get over it on his own, or whether there's anything i can do to help him get over it. oh yeah, and my mom, who made some disparaging remarks about breastfeeding past one year. grrr.
so basically i spent every day breastfeeding in front of visitors. i felt a bit like an exotic animal in a zoo!! none of our friends have kids yet, so no one there has any personal experience with breastfeeding, and although both our moms breastfed us, there hasn't been a lactating woman around in a while i guess. i've never seen anyone breastfeed at our church either. every day we were in a new situation and i had to try and decide where and how to breastfeed (pub: easy! ... sitting right next to incredibly awkward FIL: not so easy!). it was really great in some ways... my dad was my biggest cheerleader, talking about how i was being a really great role-model, and crappy in others... like my DH being surprisingly uncomfortable with me feeding the baby in front of his family.
by monday, i was getting really tired of the whole NIP thing, and actually started craving a nice quiet room so the baby and I could take our sweet time. and after that much social interaction for so many days in a row, it was sort of nice to have an excuse to get out of way for a while and go take a nice little nursing nap.
anyway, there isn't really a point to this, except i'm really proud of my little preemie who now weighs 10 pounds (!) and nursed like a champ in a million different situations, and i'm more than a little concerned by my DH's unexpected prudishness. he really was quite uncomfortable, and i didn't think he would be. i'm wondering whether he'll get over it on his own, or whether there's anything i can do to help him get over it. oh yeah, and my mom, who made some disparaging remarks about breastfeeding past one year. grrr.
Have you figured out nursing in a sling yet? I find it makes both holding the baby and being "discreet" much easier, plus I have at least one hand free that way to deal with my other two kids. Oh, and as far as the mom comments, mine has learned over the years that I am VERY stubborn about a few things, one of which is breastfeeding (both of my older ones nursed till 4.5). So one benefit of being on my third one now is I get fewer comments as people have pretty much figured me out by now. 
) they would have been dismayed but as things progressed... no issues.
