The polls are now closed. Results will be posted on Tuesday March 24, 2009. Thank you to everyone who participated. You can still feel free to leave a comment.
The following polls were created to help me answer this question: Do moms who feel more comfortable breastfeeding in public and who generally don’t use a nursing cover, go on to breastfeed longer than moms who are more shy, modest or uncomfortable breastfeeding in public who do use a nursing cover? Check out Monday Musings: Do Public Breastfeeding Moms Nurse Longer? for more thoughts on this.
Let’s keep the discussion going. Please feel free to leave any comments. If you haven’t already, consider subscribing to my site via RSS or email.
Related posts:
- Poll Results: Moms Who Don’t Cover Do Breastfeed Longer
- Monday Musings: Do Public Breastfeeding Moms Nurse Longer?
- Have We Come a Long Way Baby?
- First. Breastfeed.
- Missing: Long Lost Love
Tags: breastfeeding poll, modesty, nursing apparel, nursing covers
It totally laugh when I first read this. No, I did not throw a blanket over my head and hide like those pictures. If I had an extra shirt of blanket around I threw it over me, but it was more to protect my flabby tummy from being seen that anything else. I would also wonder if the time of year has anything to do with it. My son was born in December and we lived in CT. The first few months when he would nurse more often during the day, I wanted the extra layer over me. I would get cold with my skin exposed.
Stephanie’s last blog post..Attached
I voted for 12-18 months, but my son is 15 months and still nursing. I have no idea whether or not we’ll be done in 3 months but I am very doubtful.
Elita @ Blacktating’s last blog post..New feature: Video of the Week
I also voted 12-18 months. My middle child weaned herself during my pregnancy with my youngest, at 12 months, but I’m sure she would still be nursing today if my milk hadn’t gone away then. I certainly would have let her wean herself.
My youngest I didn’t vote on, she’s 8 months old and still nursing as her primary food source. No stopping anytime soon.
Emily Jones’s last blog post..Monday Munchies
I didn’t vote at all, as we’re just in the planning to breastfeed stage of course. I wanted to suggest surveymonkey.com for your next poll (I don’t know how easy it is to embed within your blog but I bet you could figure it out) – you could just have two questions, public/not and for how long, and then surveymonkey would do some nifty stats crunching for you to show who’s saying what.. I think that would work at any rate. Shoulda suggested this earlier when I read your first post. Anyway, surveymonkey has pretty good free functionality and I’ve used it for school, and know people who’ve used it for work stuff too.
BB’s last blog post..Lemonade Award
I didn’t vote yet as my daughter is 13 months and still breastfeeding as her primary source of nourishment and I don’t yet know if we will be going past 18 months or past 24 months… it will depend a lot on her and the situation when we get there. My goal is to do the best thing for her but that also means doing what is good for me so we will see. Also, as far as covering up – I did try to be discreet about it because I believe that shoving something down peoples throats is not the best way to advocate it. I mainly tried to make sure that if someone looked at us that they would not see something that they wouldn’t see just from my normal dress (I hope that makes sense). After she was a bit older I had to be more careful about nursing in public because she would all of a sudden whip her head off my breast and leave me completely exposed. I have still not figured out how to deal with this in public even with a cover which she does not prefer at all! So we usually nurse in the company of others who are not going to be offended by seeing my boobs!
I think for me though that the driving force is obviously not how easy it is for me – but most things worth doing are usually not easy even though that is the way Americans have come to want EVERYTHING! Okay, let me know how I should vote 
Bonnie’s last blog post..Snapshots of Life with Evie
I wasn’t exactly sure how to answer. I nursed my youngest for 3 years. But I didn’t nurse in public at all after she turned 1. Some people have a problem with public breastfeeding, so I couldn’t imagine how they’d feel seeing me nurse a toddler!
Hmmm … I don’t think I’ve ever used a blanket to cover us up, since my daughter made it known quite early that she found it offensive
I did often nurse her in the sling, but that was mostly because I had a crazy fast, strong letdown and she would frequently pop off exposing my entire, milk-spraying breast to the world. We went through a lot of burp cloths for that. 
I couldn’t vote, because at 9 months, we’re still a happy nursing couple, but I won’t be purposefully weaning her any time before probably 2.5 – 3 years.
I wouldn’t say I nurse immodestly, but I’m also really not terribly concerned if people get a flash of skin. I normally nurse her before we go somewhere (although that’s getting less frequent now that she’s learning the sign for ‘milk’ and is eating more solids) and I’m often wearing a nursing shirt, so most people can’t even tell I’m nursing anyways. If I’m not wearing a nursing shirt, I just lift ‘er up and go!
Wow, this is a fun poll but I have no idea how to answer it! With my first baby I often nursed in a sling — does that count as a cover? And with Little D, now 14 months, I always wear two shirts, one that I pull up and a tank top underneath that covers my belly and is slit in the front to allow nursing. When I nurse, I do try to place the top shirt close to Little D’s lips to be somewhat discreet, but I don’t cover the fact that I’m nursing in this way, and, you know, stuff happens, I shrug it off. Sometimes, though rarely, when I’m around folk that I *know* to be uncomfortable I’ll put a light scarf over just to make them feel better.
Personally, I never saw the need for a “nursing cover” per se: a) I’m not that modest, b) seems like your lil bebe would be apt to suffocate (tho I’m sure that’s not the case!) c) why not just use a scarf I already have and save the planet a bit? But I can see how for more modest folk they’d make the difference between nursing in public or skipping a feeding, in which case I think they definitely serve a valuable function.
Um, so which poll am I supposed to take, lol?
Hope (of hippie dippie bébé)’s last blog post..Living Simply: Revisiting Your Relationship With Money
@Lis – I know what you mean about nursing in public after a certain age. I stopped nursing in public after my first daughter turned two. My Grandma was appalled but I still felt I could justify it up unitl then. After that my daughter also understood better that nursing was something we did in private. I just couldn’t teach her that before then. And when she wanted milk she was relentless!
@Hope – Hm. Since you used the sling for babywearing more than a purchase for the purpose of covering up, I would say that the sling is not neceassarily a cover. And clothes can naturally be used to be discreet but a cover is an extra accessory you buy for the specific purpose of screening the act of breastfeeding. As for the scarf it sounds as though you “seldom” use them which means you’re in the uncovered category too.
Note to all: If you aren’t sure how to answer look within yourself to the type of person you are. Are you shy or a confident don’t care who sees me kinda woman? Just answer to the best of your ability. I don’t plan on using this for my Master’s thesis or anything. Lol.
Melodie’s last blog post..Poll: How Long Did You Breastfeed? (Covering Up Vs. Not Covering Up)
I kind of covered up and kind of didn’t – When my son was very little I used to cover up with a receiving blanket. That got to difficult so I switched to wearing nursing shirts instead. This kept my body covered without covering my baby or the act of nursing. I don’t think there is a place for this type of “covering” up in your poll. Do I vote as a coverer or non-coverer?? I did’t cover up the breastfeeding, but I did cover up my body.
Judy – Mommy News Blog’s last blog post..The Key To Comfort
I said seldom covering and 6-12 months. Lola will be 12 weeks this Friday. I’m planning to breastfeed her at least until she is eating solids, which I understand begins around 6-9 months or so. It can go longer, but at minimum until she’s on solids.
As far as covering up goes: I do so occasionally. I do feed her in her sling publicly, due to usually carrying her in her sling. But she doesn’t always like to be covered.
.:robyn:.’s last blog post..Soprano
Don’t mean to threadjack, but Robyn, even at 9 months your baby’s primary source of nutrition is milk, so if you stop nursing you’ll have to buy formula for 6-9 months.
I voted in both polls. My oldest two were weaned at 12mo each and I was very careful at the time IF I NIP to cover my whole torso. With my third son I NIP more frequently but wasn’t too concerned with using a blanket over baby’s head; but I also sat in my car alot to nurse openly before going in any store. I planned on nursing him longer but he weaned at 13mo due to me being 4mo pregnant and he didn’t like the colostrum. I now nurse all the time in public only using the sling to hold him or the doubled-up shirt like a previous poster mentioned (tank top underneath to hide my belly and short pulled up), and plan to go to 2yrs – he’s only 6mo now.
@Bonnie – In response to how you should vote, I think you can probably vote as nursing without a cover as it sounds like that is what you do. Nursing without a nursing cover doesn’t have to be immodest. I nurse without one but I wouldn’t say I am disrespectful of those around me. If anyone looked over at me when I am nursing most of them would not be able to tell, as it would look like I was just cradling or cuddling my daughter. It sounds like that it what you do too. I think that sometimes some people think that just because a mom doesn’t use a cover she doesn’t care who sees her breast and goes around flaunting it for the world to see whenever she has the opportunity to nurse, and nothing could be further from the truth. At least for me and the moms I know. For me it is about having the freedom to breastfeed publicly without the need for props.
I hope that helps. I think we’re on the same page here.
@Judy – I would say you didn’t use a cover since for the sake of the poll I am talking more about blankets and purposely-made nursing covers that cover up the baby and the breast area.
@Robyn and Elita – No problem Elita. Thanks for passing this on for me. I am a bit behind here! I know when I was a mom for the first time I had this idea that once I started
my dd on solids she wouldn’t need breastmilk anymore either. We learn as we go hey?
@Naomi – Ah car nursing! Sometimes so much easier but oftentimes so much more uncomfortable! And you girls with the tank top plus shirt over top idea – brilliant!
Melodie’s last blog post..Behavioural Problems? Yes, My Breastfed Baby.
I think I tried to cover up once or twice with my first baby. He didn’t want to be covered, so I never did. We nursed until he self-weaned at 3 and a half. My next two, I never even tried to cover. Why should I? I don’t cover my head when I eat. I think all the various contraptions that are sold to cover up babies when they nurse are actually my pet-peeves. Of course, my current nursling likes to bury his head under my sweater sometimes when he nurses… his head looks like a huge breast. He thinks he’s very funny.
Birthgoddess’s last blog post..BB: "I am in tune…"
I voted 18-24 months, although we are still nursing. She wont be 2 until the end of the month, so….
Annette’s last blog post..First Day of Spring
Oh, I guess I should add, we dont really cover up that much. Mostly just my belly….
Four years. Once I read it was the world avg I felt beter knowing I wouldn’t b refusing my son. He knew he’d be stopping when he turned 4 so when he ws asked his age he’d say-”just a litle bit 4!”.
We’ve been nursing 27 months, and I rarely covered up once I got a hang of the latch. I’d say I’m moderately modest. I don’t walk around with a bunch of skin exposed, but I am also not afraid to expose a bit to nurse in public.
Maria’s last blog post..Sunday Slowdown
My son turned 2 in November and is still nursing, I have never covered in public.
Allie’s last blog post..Sunday Spotlight
Missed the poll, but I’m not sure how I would have answered anyway. We nursed for thirty months. I covered up often in the first few months, but quickly learned how to nurse without showing any skin sans blanket or sling — the tank top under shirt was great for that. Other times I would pull down the v-neck of my shirt and drape a burp cloth over my breast down to baby’s lips, not covering him, just me. Don’t know if that counts, either, LOL. And I totally understand what some mom’s mentioned about not nursing in public beyond a certain age. I probably never nursed in public outside of a LLL meeting after 18 or 20 months. It just felt too outside the norm to do so.
[...] my past posts, Monday Musings: Do Public Breastfeeding Moms Nurse Longer? that resulted in the Poll: How Long Did You Breastfeed? (Covering Up vs. Not Covering Up) had a number of women asking me if [...]