I was in a hip store in Seattle and saw "HooterHiders- nursing covers for chic mothers." They looked like aprons, with very colorful designs and bold patterns one could describe as "groovy" or even psychedelic... in other words, screaming "look at me but don't see me nursing my baby under this tent!" Their website states "Mom looks stylish and trendy while feeding baby. Mom's modesty isn't compromised," "Nursing while out and about or while entertaining family and friends is no longer stressful," and "Even though Mom may be comfortable with nursing baby uncovered in public, often male relatives, friends and co-workers find it a bit awkward." http://www.hooterhiders.com/why.html If you look at http://www.bebeaulait.com/index.html "gallery" pictures 5-8 you can see moms hiding their babies under that huge thing...or maybe they're hiding shoplifted items, I don't know.
    In their "Breastfeeding" section were links for information about how "breastfeeding benefits your baby" (aaaah!) including American College of Nurse Midwives, CDC, AAP, and US Dept of Health & Human Services. I emailed them to suggest a few additional/alternative sites including Diane Wiessinger, kellymom, Jack Newman, and LLLI. As well as giving my opinion about how "unstressful" I find NIP. 
    Although I admit, when Sean was a baby I had a "nursing bib"- lightweight cotton fabric with a strap that snapped around the neck and some mesh the top of the front so mom could peek in on baby. I still have it, 2 of them in fact, they're both in the boys' dress-up box in the playroom. Sean and Harrison wear them as capes when they are superheros. If a new mom is uncomfortable with NIP or asks me how to handle NIP, I suggest she attend LLL meetings for a great, supportive, comfortable environment in which to get used to nursing around other people or go to one of those mom-baby movie deals (like ReelMoms, although I've written them to complain about their logo- a bottle next to a tub of popcorn. It still hasn't changed) to practice nursing in "public" without people "seeing" you.
    So speaking of males finding NIP "awkward", I need to vent. I took my car for an oil change Thursday, not at Jiffy Lube where the waiting area is a single room connected to the service bay and with huge glass-front "walls" so everyone everywhere can see what you're doing while you're waiting; I went to the dealership, which has a showroom and a lot of different offices and additional rooms. As we were walking into the "customer lounge," I told the employee that I was going to feed my baby while waiting. I wasn't carrying any kind of (diaper/ bottle) bag. He stopped walking, turned to me, and stammered, "uh, feed? your baby? uh, do you, uh, need, uh.....?....someplace to uh, warm anything up?" I patted my breasts and answered, "No thank you, the milk is always the right temperature and ready to feed!" He then said, "uh, no, I meant, uh, anyplace more....uh, private?" as he nodded his head toward, I swear, the *bathroom* I answered, "oh no, we're fine, thanks, I'm just going to sit in that chair right there and read a book." "Are you sure? Other people might come in here." Me, very calmly, normalizing feeding my baby the normal way: "'Oh that's fine, no problem. We're we're just going to get comfy and have a snack, thank you." I gave him the coupon I had for a free road atlas (hubby is driving cross-country in 3 weeks!) and he left. A few minutes later, a knock on the wall (room had 4 walls, a doorway without a door), "Uh, is it okay to come in? Everybody decent?" I answered, "Of course we're decent, just having lunch." He walked in with the road altas OVER HIS HEAD making a big deal of shielding his view of me, really obvious that he "didn't want to see." I said, "It's okay, we're not exposed." (we weren't, but no "cape" or tent covering us... just a baby's head blocking the view of any skin).  He answered, "nah, man, I'm just kidding with you. I have 2 kids." I answered, "really, did your wife breastfeed them?! Because I'm not the least bit embarrassed, and I don't see anything for anyone else to be embarrassed about. Really, you can't see anything, my shirt and his head cover everything that is out of my bra. There is much more breast exposed in THIS--" as I held up the Maxim magazine that had been on the table. (Is everyone familiar with Maxim? Men's magazine, always has a sexy, scantily clad, provocatively posed female on the cover-- but they read it for the "great articles"). Notice I didn't say "I'm sorry you're uncomfortable," because I wasn't doing anything worth apologizing for. He said, "Nah, man, you're cool. Yeah...uh here you go," and handed me the atlas and left. 
    It bothered me so much. WHEN is nursing going to be so accepted and "normal" that a woman hides under a "mother-baby privacy blanket" to bottle feed because she's embarrassed to be seen not breastfeeding??!! I just really needed to rant. I'm done:-)

Vicki Hayes RN IBCLC in WA 

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