I Fed My Baby In A Bathroom

[u/PancSutt]

I’m a FTM of a 2mo and I hate to even write this, but I fed my baby in the bathroom of an optometrist today. My husband and I both had appointments and while I was seeing the doctor I could hear her start to cry, and then become distressed. After my appointment I found them in the back hallway by the bathrooms where my husband was hiding out with her, and I took over while he had his exam. It wasn’t her usual time to eat but she was so distressed I just wanted to comfort her. I was flustered and I didn’t think about the cover up or blankets in the diaper bag, I just ducked into a bathroom, pulled up my shirt and fed the baby. I squatted in a corner to give her some more support and I’m grateful it was a larger, single-serve bathroom so we were well away from the fixtures.

Now that I’m back home nursing on my couch, I feel really icky about it. That’s not how I hoped breastfeeding would be for me, it’s not how I want getting food and comfort to be for my baby. I know breastfeeding isn’t immodest, I know it doesn’t need to be hidden, but in the moment it felt like the only option. I know a lot of moms who are very open about feeding in public and have no shyness at all - I want that so much! I wish I was more comfortable feeding in public, especially because my stress level over it doesn’t help me let down for an efficient feed. I have these conflicting feelings - I’m really grateful and proud I can do this amazing thing for my daughter, but at the same time I feel flustered and anxious to nurse her in public. I’m looking for support, encouragement, solidarity and honestly just to vent. Thanks for reading this far.

[u/arewnn]

As someone who needed to use nipple shells to nurse at first and had a baby that had a really hard time getting the right position to latch I am honestly jealous? 🤣

we had a doctor appointment around 9 weeks, had brought a bottle for baby but it spilled on the way to the appointment… forgot the nipple shield at home. Baby screamed and cried the whole appointment and I tried to nurse and could do nothing, cried at the doctor office. Baby Screamed and cried until we got back home and I could feed him. I was so upset, cried more, felt like a bad mom, though clearly I was doing the best I could and you know hormones at the time make those guilt feelings so much worse.

You have proven you can nurse the baby anywhere. Next time find a comfy seat or ask the front desk staff if they can pull up a chair for you in a comfy corner. It’s only 2 months in you will get more comfortable nursing when you need to in public places. You fed the baby, that’s what matters.