Breastfeeding has a lot of benefits, and for many women, one of those benefits is that no matter where you go or how far you are from home, your baby's next meal is never in question. Not only do you not have to worry about remembering to bring a bottle with you, you also don't have to worry about finding a source to heat up milk or finding old bottles lined with sour milk in the bottom of the diaper bag you haven't used in a week.
Nope, when you nurse, your baby's next meal is always at the ready and involves almost no set up or clean up–it's a perfect option for on-the-go families, especially in the early months when your little one isn't mobile and or super-aware of his surroundings (it admittedly gets a lot trickier as they get older). In an attempt to take full advantage of this, I've found myself nursing in some pretty interesting places, and no, I've never gotten so much as a funny look. Here are the five stragest places I've had to nurse:
1. At a McDonald's parking lot. I don't eat McDonald's–I haven't in at least 10 years–but there's no denying that Mickey D's makes a good rest stop. When my son was a couple months old and I was still on maternity leave, we took a road trip and a few hours in, he was up from his nap and we were on the hunt for somewhere discreet to park so I could feed him. McDonald's fit the bill.
2. On a boulder in the Appalachian Mountains. Last summer we took my son along on a hiking/camping trip. I didn't know exactly how long the hike would take going into it, but I figured I'd have to feed him at some point. About midway through our jaunt we ended up stopping in the middle of the trail to have lunch. Rather than having to make a second stop I plopped down on a sizeable boulder threw a blanket on to cover up and nursed my son while I ate a PB&J.
3. In a fancy hotel lobby in Philadelphia. In true "having a baby won't stop me" fashion, my husband and I decided to take a trek into Philly for the sole reason of trying a particular sandwich at Reading Terminal Market. It was a random federal holiday that we both had off and the market was open, so we went for it. Little did we know we were in for a torrential downpour. I got a bit turned around looking for a coffee shop I had scoped out earlier as an ideal place to stop and nurse, and in a desperate attempt to get out of the rain, we dashed into a random hotel. The lobby was warm, dry, and had tons of cozy sofas and chairs–so I plopped down a few feet away from some businessmen and fed my son.
4. Under some trees at the Inner Harbor. A while back, we went on a leisure trip to Baltimore, and to save money we stayed at a hotel in the suburbs. We were only there for a weekend so we had just a single day to check out the city–that meant there would be no back and forth. Once we reached the famous Inner Harbor, we didn't return to our car or our hotel until we were ready to pack it in for the day. So I walked as far away from the crowds as I could get and found a shady spot to people watch while my son ate his lunch.
5. In a restaurant overlooking Times Square. Nursing with a view is pretty awesome, especially when that view is New York City's Times Square. Just last month we visited with some friends who had never been to the Big Apple and stopped for dinner at one of the mega-chain restaurants located in the middle of Times Square. My son happily chowed down while I munched on salad and breadsticks and peered out the window facing me.
Image via Shayne Rodriguez Thompson
