“I threw a blanket over my baby’s head to feed him” – by Slee Guest Blogger
I threw a blanket over my baby’s head to feed him. You read that right. A blanket. On Snapdragon’s head.
When I first was told by my husband that I needed a nursing cover, I was a little mad at him. Breastfeeding is one of the most natural experiences in human experience. It falls very shortly behind breathing in terms of vital behavior. So why on earth should I have to cover up? Don’t get me wrong, I do have some truly lovely fabric that I could finally showcase if I made a nursing cover, and that thought IS somewhat appealing, but I live in a lactation forward kind of state, and I don’t want to backslide by covering up. In Illinois, as I am fond of pointing out to Mr. Cover-up, a woman has the right to breastfeed her child in any place she is otherwise authorized to be, public or private. Legislators actually codified it, not just leaving off, as Wisconsin does, after exempting the exposure of the tatas from the category of lewd behavior. So, armed with the knowedge that I have every human right and legal right to feed Snapdragon anywhere but in a moving car, I obstinantly refused to register for or make a nursing cover.
I’ve nursed him at a wedding, in parking lots after an “I hate going places” tantrum, and at the library. Nursing him in public doesn’t bother me at all. So why oh why then do you suppose I threw a blanket over his head to feed him?
It turns out, I hadn’t thought the whole thing through.
Yesterday we went to my mother’s house and she was doing yardwork. It was a lovely day, so Snapdragon and I settled into a chair near where she was weeding. But as the clouds lazily drifted across thatcrisp blue sky, I felt the intense heat of the sunlight on my shoulders. Then it hit me, his skin is thin. Like pages of a Bible thin. He can’t be getting roasted like this! So I grab a receiving blanket from my ill organized diaper bag and drape it over his head.
I suddenly am that mom.
I am that mom, and in retrospect, its a good thing, because my shoulders are completely sunburnt. Yes, I’m red with white spots, but neither Snapdragon or leftie had to suffer the same fate, so I am proud to have been intelligent enough to throw a blanket over my kid’s head to feed him.
But that got me thinking. Mightn’t there be other times when I’d want a light and pretty cover?
I’d been sooo focused on it being my right to breastfeed in public without draperies, that I’d forgotten I also have the right to be covered when maybe I don’t want creeptastic people staring at me. Maybe sometimes I’d rather not have to worry that distractable!baby is distractable and I just might be flashing my nipple for no good reason while he watches the birds intently. Sometimes that pervy uncle just doesn’t need to see the girls.
So I am going to make me a glorified bib, just as soon as I can get past the nervous angst that accompanies any forray into cutting any of my stash. 
