The muslin kept slipping. The apron looked like a bib. Then I found the one that just looks like part of my outfit.
Let me save you the money, and the red-faced café moments, I went through first.
In my first few months as a mum I bought the lot. Twenty muslins, every size going, one in every bag and one in the boot of the car. Two different apron nursing covers, both of which ended up looking like a bib I had hung round my neck. A stretchy one half my NCT group swore by. A cheap Amazon one with hundreds of five star reviews.
All of it in a drawer. One thing barely leaves my shoulders. Here's the difference.
1. It looks like part of my outfit, not baby gear
The first thing I noticed was what people didn't notice. No one clocked that I was breastfeeding at all.
The muslin always slid off my shoulder. The apron one looked like a bib I'd hung round my neck, so the whole café knew exactly what I was doing. This one drapes over me like a shawl, so I just look like me, out for a coffee, in something I'd wear anyway.
That was the bit I didn't expect. I stopped feeling like I was wearing a bib.
2. It actually stays where I put it
With the muslin I had one hand pinning it to my shoulder and one hand trying to latch the baby, which is one hand short. The second they wriggled, it slipped.
You pull Mami Mellow on over your head like a jumper and it drapes all the way round you and stays there. No pinning, no holding it shut, no fiddly straps. You are still holding the baby with one arm, of course. But you are not holding the cover up with the other hand any more, so that hand is finally free. Free for your coffee, your phone, whatever you need.
3. It keeps me covered, all the way round
This is the one that mattered most to me. The apron covers your front and nothing else, so a gust from the café door or a wriggle from the baby and your side is on show. The muslin never really covered the sides at all.
Mami Mellow goes right the way round. The person on the next table has no idea, and anyone walking behind me just sees a shawl. I could stop doing the constant over-the-shoulder check to see who was looking.
4. I honestly forget I've got it on
The muslins went thin and shapeless after a few washes and never sat right again. The apron felt like a stiff bit of kit I had to put up with.
This just feels like part of what I'm wearing. The open, waffle-knit weave lets the air move through, so it stays light and comfortable under there rather than warm and stuffy, and it lives with my everyday clothes instead of at the bottom of the nappy bag. Most days I forget I'm wearing it until it's time to feed again.
5. It quietly does about six other jobs
Here is the part that made it pay for itself. When I am not breastfeeding, it does not go back in the bag. It drapes round my neck like a scarf, so I am wearing it, not carrying it.
The same cover is my pram shade on a sunny walk, a cover over the car seat while they nap, a bit of privacy for pumping back at work, a clean layer over a grubby high chair, and a light blanket tucked over them when there's a chill in the air. One thing in the bag instead of five. That is the moment the price stopped feeling like a cost and started feeling like the sensible option.
6. Why it works when the others didn't
| Muslin | Apron | Mami Mellow | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stays put without a hand | ✕ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Covers you all the way round | ✕ | ✕ | ✓ |
| Air moves through it | ✓ | ✕ | ✓ |
| Looks like part of your outfit | ✕ | ✕ | ✓ |
| Also a scarf, pram shade, blanket | ✕ | ✕ | ✓ |
The muslin breathes, and that is genuinely the one thing it has going for it. But it is a flat square of cloth, so it slides, and it only ever covers your front.
The apron stays put, because it is strapped round your neck. That is also why it looks like a bib, and why it leaves your sides open.
Mami Mellow is an open, waffle-knit weave, so the air moves through it. You wear it like a shawl, over your head, draping the whole way round. One size, no straps to thread, no clips to snap. That is the whole trick. It stays where you put it, it covers you properly, and it happens to look like something you would have bought off the high street anyway.
7. Turns out a lot of mums had the same story
I wasn't the only one who had been making do with a muslin. Once I looked at the reviews, they kept saying my own story back to me.
"So versatile. I wore it to work, travelling, my friend's wedding. Breathable and not too dark for baby underneath. Good for feeding, or pumping."
"Love the looks, it makes me confident to breastfeed in public."
"It looks chic and sophisticated, and it feels so soft."
10,000+ covers sold. Rated 4.7 out of 5. 92% would recommend it.
8. Where I got mine
If you have read this far, you already know the muslin-and-apron routine is not working for you. I stopped looking after this one. It's the only one still on my shoulders and everything else is still in that drawer.
They do it in a few colours, and it comes with a wash bag, which is the thing I would have wanted to know before I ordered. Have a look for yourself.
Everything else you're wondering
I've not heard of you. Is this a real company?
I nearly did not order for exactly this reason. It came up on my feed, and things that come up on your feed are not always there the following week.
You have just read four reviews. There are 330 of them, they average 4.7 out of 5, and 92% of the women who left one would tell another mum to buy it. Ten thousand covers have gone out to people like Jade and Jane up there.
None of which you have to take on faith, because you have 30 days with it in your hands before you decide.
I still think it's expensive.
So did I, and I want to be careful not to talk you out of that, because it is not a cheap thing.
But go back up to the list. The pram shade, the car seat cover, the scarf, the layer over the high chair, the blanket. I owned four of those five separately. Priced against the drawer, this was never the expensive option. It was the one that emptied it.
And there is the part nobody puts a number on. I started saying yes to things again.
It looks a bit open. Can people see through it?
This was my worry too, and it is worth answering properly rather than just saying no.
It is an open, waffle-knit weave. That is deliberate, and it is why the air moves through it and it does not get stuffy under there. But an open knit and a see-through one are not the same thing.
When you are feeding, the cover is not hanging flat. It drapes and folds over itself, and you are looking straight down through one layer at your baby while everyone else is looking across at a shawl. What you can see is not what they can see.
If it does not feel private enough for you, that is exactly what the 30 days are for.
I still can't decide on a colour.
Nobody can, and it is the nicest problem on this page.
Navy, grey and mocha go under everything and you will stop noticing you have it on. Beige, rose and lavender look like you chose them, which is a different sort of useful.
If you are torn between two, that is what the second one is for. One lives in the changing bag and never comes out of it.
It's one size. I'm short. Will it swamp me?
It is one size, and it is meant to drape rather than fit, which is why there is no sizing to get wrong. It is not a jumper.
You pull it on over your head and it falls where it falls. On a shorter frame it sits a little lower, which if anything is more coverage, not less.
Will my baby get too hot under it?
This is the reason it is knitted open rather than woven solid. The air moves through it, so it is not the stuffy little tent you get under a thick cover.
It is also not dark under there. Several mums have said the thing they liked was being able to see their baby, and their baby being able to see them.
How do I wash it?
It comes with a wash bag, which is the bit I would have wanted to know before ordering. It goes in the bag, and the bag goes in the machine.