A while back, when I posted on my own blog about not having a car, Rachel asked me, “OK, I want to know how you spent several hours running errands if you are breastfeeding, and you don’t have a car. I am jealous you were able to do it.”

Basically, I just nurse in public. Most of the places we go on errands have somewhere to sit, at the very least. The two grocery stores we go to both have coffee shops attached, so I can sit there and nurse if need be, which I’ve done several times. Places like Target and Fred Meyer have the best option: fitting rooms. And then there’s Nordstrom, which is the gold standard of places to nurse while out and about, with their well-equipped mother’s rooms that include comfy couches and a changing table.

So, the answer is that usually I just find a place I can sit down and do what I need to do. I don’t even always use a blanket; depending on what I’m wearing and where I’m sitting, there’s not a ton you can see anyway.

My strategy for restaurants is that if we get a choice about where to sit, I always pick the seat that is next to the wall and hopefully in a corner. That way I can most likely nurse without anyone even seeing what I’m doing.

That said, I’ve had two experiences lately that weren’t quite as easy, and involved much more overt nursing in public. One was at our favorite Indian restaurant a few weeks ago. Elanor was really fussy and wouldn’t calm down any other way, so I knew I’d have to nurse her. Thankfully, I had her in the Ergo and I was able to get her latched on while she was still in it, which was lovely! I was hands-free so I could still eat, she was snuggled up and eating, and the carrier itself did most of the work of keeping me from flashing the entire restaurant providing privacy.

The second experience was this past week. We had gone to see a friend’s art show and were, consequently, out much later than normal. Elanor was fussy, it was past her bedtime, and she needed to eat, but we were on the bus. So I made the choice to take care of what she needed and just nursed her from the Whole Foods on Westlake to Ballard.

I’ve been wondering when we’d come to that point of me feeding her on the bus; I knew it was inevitable at some point, and I’d been nervous about it. Honestly, though, it was totally uneventful. Brett was sitting next to me, so he provided privacy toward the aisle, and there was no one sitting behind us. I don’t think anyone even realized what I was doing.

I probably wouldn’t nurse on a crowded bus sitting next to someone I didn’t know, but under the circumstances of the other night, it was totally fine — anti-climactic, even, given that it was something I’d worried about for a few months. It’s just one more experience under my belt as a carless mama.

Read more of Kathleen’s writing at http://shinelikestars.blogspot.com.  If you have questions, anecdotes, or topics for “Carless in Seattle,” email kathleen(at)seattlemomblogs(dot)com.