Friday, May 6, 2011

A Babies R Us pilgrimage

Last night, my mom and I made a pilgrimage to the mecca of all pregnant women - Babies R Us. It's only the second time I've been there in the past 5 years, the other time coming about a month ago when I went with my mother-in-law. My mom wanted to get a crib mattress for the baby as a gift, and I wanted to look at baby carriers. So off we set.

We retrieved the desired items (I'll post a review of my chosen carrier once I get a chance to use it) and suddenly my mom announces:

"Why don't we look at nursing covers? Your cousin Christina had such a nice one that you could hardly tell she was nursing."

"I can just use a blanket."

"No! Let's look at the covers."

Sigh, ok. I waddle my way to the breastfeeding section, and we oogle the nursing covers. The one Christina used wasn't there, so we had to content ourselves looking at non-approved nursing covers. My mom felt no compunction about opening the packages to take the covers out for a test run so that we could *really* know if they were any good or not, as I glanced around nervously. Like maybe the Babies R Us police were going to come escort us out of the store.

"Oh look! See how it attaches around your neck. But...I don't know. Maybe it doesn't cover enough."

I tie the straps around my neck, which I immediately hate, but I let it go for the sake of politeness. Next, I examine the body of the garment which can only be described as a nursing mumu. This thing extended from my collar bone down to my *knees*.

"Um, mom? I don't think I need quite this much coverage. Plus, it's kind of loud."

Loud as in bright pink geometric shapes with swirls dominating the fabric.

"Won't this draw even *more* attention to the fact that I'm nursing? I think I'm good with just a cotton blanket."

So, what say my readers? Do any of you use these, or are you with me on the blankets?

2 comments:

  1. I don't own a cover. They're expensive and don't "last" long. By the time HB got to moving around something around his face bugged him. I couldn't use even the blanket at that point. Plus you have to wrangle your baby while trying to tie something around your neck which will only get pulled. Not cool to me. I've seen enough moms who use them to know.

    After he was older, I double layered my shirts since he was quick with the latch on. Nobody noticed a thing. Most thought I was holding him. There was an embarrassing moment at a party where a professor didn't realize I was nursing him until he leaned forward. The look on his face was priceless. He apologized profusely to my husband because he had no idea. :)

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  2. I hate those things. It looks like you're in a tent! People have GOT to wonder what you're doing in there -- since the baby is completely invisible. Perhaps trying to smuggle a family of terrorists around?

    I just use two shirts like the previous poster. If I have trouble with latching on modestly, I either hold my hand around the baby's cheek or draw a blanket around his face just at that moment.

    It sounds to me like your mom has strong opinions on that topic, though! My own grandma thinks I am very inappropriate by nursing without a cover, even though you can't see anything.

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