Another Northern California beach was tested and approved today. Topless breastfeeding friendly!

That is a joke, really, because I wasn’t really testing anything or anyone. But it went off without a hitch so I suppose it was a good day.

How did I end up nursing topless today?

Well, it was an usually hot day here in San Francisco so we made an impromptu beach trip after lunch. We didn’t have suits or towels but thankfully had sunscreen.

After playing in the water, my eldest was thirsty and asked for milk. I obliged her, nursing “discreetly” (by that I mean I had two shirts on, a top shirt pulled up with a cami under so just a sliver of my breast was out for my daughter) with for a few minutes while the baby ate sand and rocks at my feet. But then when my youngest wanted some milk at the same time I realized I was just going to be fumbling with my two shirts and flashing everyone front cleavage anyway so I pulled off my shirt and scooted down my cami and gave topless nursing my first whirl.

Would I have gone topless if the beach had been packed? No, I don’t think so, but the timing was right for my usually modest self since the beach around me was empty for a few hundred feet. I felt confident nursing there already since I breastfed at the same spot when my youngest was just a couple weeks old back in August. But I was completely covered, my breasts with my shirt anyway, not with an actual cover. No one couldn’t tell what we were doing regardless, but I was still shy about it but a mere 9 months ago.

Nursing my newborn at Baker Beach. Can you tell?

Today, however, was a different story. I’ve felt more and more confident nursing uncovered since attending a couple of nurse-ins, throwing out my covers, and writing this blog. Realizing that nursing is nothing to be ashamed of, nothing to hide, and is actually a source of pride has been enlightening for me. My two and a half year old daughter told me this morning that she loved me and she loved my “mama-milk” as she calls it. It warmed my heart and almost made me tear up.

Why feel awkward about breastfeeding at the beach when men were walking around topless and women were prancing around in bikinis? Breastfeeding is protected from public indecency laws here and there is also some sort of common knowledge that Baker Beach is a nudist beach anyway so I thought, “Who cares if I show a little nipple?”

I must admit, nursing topless at the beach today was WONDERFUL. I didn’t feel any annoying straps digging into my skin. The wind was blowing across my skin and the sand was sticking to my bare chest. The only hiccup was my toddler did NOT like seeing sand on “her milk,” or my boobs, as she calls them. But that didn’t stop her from nursing. She just wanted to comment on something she had never seen before. And of course my youngest, at 9 and a half months, was acting like a hummingbird, on and off the breast, happily cooing and smacking, standing up and diving back for more milk, without a care in the world about my modesty.

Here are our lovely tandem nursing photos. I love their hair shining in the sun and my youngest one’s hand coming up to play with my mouth, as she likes to do.

And here are our other photos, since I don’t only capture our breastfeeding memories!

I am thankful to be able to do spur of the moment activities and meet both of my children’s needs on the go. Nursing tides my toddler’s hunger for hours and keeps both of them happy and smiling. I hope seeing how easy nursing uncovered is gives other mothers the confidence to enjoy breastfeeding in public out in the summer sunshine too.

Breastfeed with your head held high, mamas!

What do you think? Would you nurse topless? Or have you already? Tell me about it!

Related Posts:

• Breastfeeding at the beach (Bodega Bay)
• Tandem Nursing Thoughts
• Do you support breastfeeding? (Poster)
• Tips for New Moms: Swimsuit Shopping
• Read it: Every argument against NIP debunked
• Overcoming Nursing In Public Fears
• Bare Breasted in New York