Breastfeeding in your area

[MommytoTwo]

I am curious. I *never* see mamas NIP here. NEVER. And I live near Disney and Sea World - all areas where you would expect to see young families with nursing babies. I saw a woman in Target once NIPing under a blanket and I just about peed myself I was so excited.

How many mamas do you see nursing in an average week? If I see one every 6 months that is a lot.

[amandaleigh37]

I see none. Unless I'm at a LLL gathering

[menomena]

I tend to go to crunchy activities generally (waldorf-y playgroup; babywearers'; LLL; etc) so I see mamas NIPing all over the place.

However, I did see a mom NIPing her 8m old (we got to chatting ) at DD1's dance class last week. In a VERY mainstream and smaller/more rural neighboring town. So woo for that.

I NIP any and everywhere. Hopefully moms who see me around town feel empowered to NIP, too.

[Mom2J]

Aside from MDC playgroups, and a screening of The Business of Being Born, I think I've only seen 1 mom NIP here since we moved a little over a year ago. Lots of babies here too.

[Ziggysmama]

Heh. Waiheke Island is NIP paradise Its very common to see women NIP here. Our community is a blend of crunchy and mainstream, with the crunchy tendancies rubbing off nicely on even the most mainstreamest.
I go to a lot of Mums and bubs activites, LLL, Steiner playcircle, music and movement so I get a lot of exposure to it there too.
All the island cafes are bf freindly and I have NIPed here everywhere from a fancy restaurant to standing in line at the post office.

There was one mum in my antenatal class who would pump bm if she was going somewhere because she didn't want to NIP. We tried to encourage her that it was ok but it was a no-go. In fact one time when another lady from a class went to visit her with her new baby (the first ladys bub wasn't born yet) she offered her the back room to nurse in...
very strange.


But back to the good stuff. I am very proud of our community and its absolute acceptance of bfing and NIP. I guess I may take it for granted a little.

[KurumiSophia]

The only time I saw someone NIP, they were doing it under a blanket at the Children's Museum. Other than that, I have not seen a single person do it. Heck, I get stares for my Maya Wrap. When doing grocery shopping the other day, I was actually asked "is there a little person in there?" because I had my baby girl in the cradle hold and she was napping while we shopped.

So yeah, not much NIP around here. Lots of bottles and stuff.

[MichelleAnnette]

Outside of gatherings where people like us go, I have never seen a mother NIP. Lots of bottles, but no breasts.

[Momily]

I see it pretty regularly, at the playground, in stores. I still see more bottles than NIP in general, but not by a huge margin.

[ambersrose]

I live in Albuquerque NM and love that it is very common to see moms NIP. I moved here two years ago from southern California where I rarely saw moms NIP. In California, I was often told to nurse in the bathroom (yeah right!) but in New Mexico not once have I been given any hassles about nursing anywhere

[milkeriffic mama]

i live in phoenix, and i nip everywhere, but i never see anyone else doing it (except for a couple friends of mine). lots and lots of bottles...

[TinyBabyBean]

i can't think of the last time in public, public. in west central fl here.

but, at my new dd's newborn check up there was a woman with an almost 2 year old breastfeeding without a cover or anything from shirt pulled down from the top! you go mama! it has been years since i saw anyone since her.

[mommyddeville]

I don't go out a lot other than getting together with other "crunchy" moms. So, I see a lot of moms NIP, but I know them. Otherwise, I tend to see mamas with bottles or just not feeding at the time.

I NIP wherever I am, when I have a small child. Right now, my youngest is 16 months and far too distractable to think about nursing anywhere but at home. I wouldn't say my area is crunchy like Portland, OR or somewhere like that, but it's better than a lot of areas for acceptance of breastfeeding.

[APmomto3boys]

Average week?? n/a lol

I could count on one hand the number of times I have seen women NIP around here. I live in Baltimore. We go to a lot of family activities too. I do see a lot of propped bottles though! :

[yogamama13]

Wish I could say I see more moms NIP than bottle feed but sadly that is not the case. I live in a small city in Canada and I would say that I see a couple every month. We also have a very large group of LLL leaders in a city of 200,000 so I would like to think we are having some influence.

[Turkish Kate]

I live in Istanbul, Turkiye. I think I've seen two moms NIP in the last year or so, and one was NIPing a toddler. I smiled from across the room and she shyly smiled back (I was enormously pregnant at the time and not about to leave my big bowl of pasta). I don't go out much, but when I do, it's generally to shopping malls and the like where there are always baby rooms. Most moms will nurse in the baby rooms, probably because it's more comfortable, but we do have a majority population who are covered Muslims who go to the baby rooms for modesty. I NIP all the time and have never received a single negative comment. Most people take it for granted that babies are breastfed, but they aren't necessarily used to seeing it out in public.

I just remembered something--I went to an expat mums & babies group a little over a year ago where there were lots of nursing babies. Funny thing is that all of these liberal, western-educated women were nursing under these huges scarves. And they made such a big deal out of needing to have these scarves for breastfeeding. How bizarre.

[raeinparis]

i live in northern france and it's really uncommon here but i have seen it once or twice in a mall. yay! but it's really not the norm...breasts are for selling something here, or so it seems.

nip is a lot more common in paris than up here. and i was able to do it a lot more because i didn't have to run after a toddler! i have to say that my second child gets a lot fewer "picnics" than my first.

kate, the scarf thing cracked me up. i was at a park in dublin, ireland, nursing my baby and i saw a woman on a bench who had a teeny tiny baby (i think her third child) and she had the biggest scarf!

[mom2snugbugs]

portland, or here. I see lots of baby wearers. When I cradle held my ds when he was a baby in my sling, no one could tell I was nursing, so I don't know if the baby wearers are nursing or not- but probably though. I see someone nip'ing about twice a month. But i go to pretty crunchy places too.

[Claire and Boys]

Suffolk, UK here, I think about 99% of mothers here bottle feed. I have never seen anyone NIP. All of them have bottles tucked into their pushchairs or they bottle prop.

[pixiemammy]

Galway, Ireland

I NIP my 15 month old at least twice a week in random locations around town You'd see a few other nursing pairs but not nearly as many as you'd see bottlefeeding. The mother & toddler group we go to has a good few extended bfing babies which is great!

[Frootloop]

I live just outside Buffalo, NY and I've never seen anyone NIP. I also never saw anyone NIP while living in TN, MI, or IN, either, but I also wasn't really *looking* for it until the last few months. I'm positive that I've never seen a sling or wrap used in real life, nor have I seen a mama with a blanket-covered baby (my eyes would have been drawn to it).

To be totally honest, not seeing anyone NIP while living in TN (where I was born, raised, and lived the majority of my life) doesn't surprise me at all, considering I didn't even know a single person who breastfed or even attempted to. Everyone that I knew went straight to the bottle right after birth (all with the thoughts of "ewwww, BFing is gross"), but I wasn't a lactivist back then, so I never countered it.
Ohhhhh, wait!!! I take that back, yes I did know a couple people who breastfed! BUT, it was only for a max of TWO DAYS while still in the hospital, and it was only to get the colostrum, because "that's all the babies really need, anyway". They were also supplementing with formula at the time.

I've been looking high and low for mamas NIP here, if only to give them a smile to thank them for what they're doing, or so that my kids can see it in person.. but sadly, I haven't seen it