NIP

Amazingly, NIP in the breastfeeding community does not stand for nipple, as in, "Hey, get some more of that nip in that babe's mouth!" But instead stands for....

Nursing
In
Public

Leave it to breastfeeding nuts to come up with multiple uses for the nip.

Anyway, I've got a little NIP shocker for you all...

Despite the last 20 months of proudly, if not righteously, nursing my daughter in public, I have begun to feel, well, a little bit shy.  Yep, me.  Stand on your soap box shouting to the rooftops, telling the neigh-sayers off, me.  Feeling shy as I nurse my daughter in public.  It doesn't help that she does acrobatics while nursing (this draws a lot of attention and some cringing from those close enough to see she is treating my nipple like salt water taffy), but she also yells and demands "Nurse, Mama!" at the WORST times.  And she's just old enough for me to be just not quite in the mood to take on the judge-y-pants looks from those around us.

I was very uncomfortable with my discomfort.  So, I did a little soul searching, and came up with the following.

Nursing in public is key to increasing awareness, comfort level, and tolerance for this extremely normal exchange between mother and child (of any age), and I want to continue to push and support that as a breastfeeding advocate.  So, while I definitely want to keep up my NIP, I also want to set some ground rules that increase my comfort level as I nurse an older child.

Also, breastfeeding is an opportunity to teach my kid to accept and respect boundaries, both physical (with me) and social.  So, we decided to make some changes.  Here they are:

1. Instead of asking for nursing, my daughter asks for "snuggles".  This is a great little code word that people nearby aren't remotely startled by.  Unlike "nurse, mama!" which when it comes out of my 21 month old (who is taller than most 2.5 year olds), can be a bit daunting for onlookers. 
2. When out of the house, we nurse "by the clock".  OMG, that's right.  Me!  By. The. Clock.  Now, to clarify, if you are nursing by the clock or reading that god forsaken BabyWise crap with a child under the age of 1, you are not gonna like what I say about you behind your back.  But, my kid is almost 2.  And sometimes, when we are in public, she wants to nurse every 6 fucking minutes.  This doesn't work for me any better than it does for those around us.  So, I set my phone alarm to go off every 45 minutes to an hour.  And when my daughter asks if she can "snuggle" I say, "let's check the clock."  We do.  She likes it.  I think it even gives her a sense of calmness because she and I are not negotiating over when we nurse and instead she can just relax and wait for the alarm.  

The only problem is that my daughter can't really say her "L" sound yet.  So when she wants to check the clock, she says, "See Cock!"

Oy.