Nursing Bras - more than just white cotton!

I just just received the most beautiful bra in the post today. It’s black lace, lined with teal cotton, it’s soft, it’s gorgeous and it’s a nursing bra! Nice nursing bras do exist and I will tell you where to find them!

But first, let’s begin at the beginning….

When you’re pregnant, around 38 weeks, you should go in to somewhere like M&S, and get measured for nursing bras. The assistant will take a reasonably accurate guess, based on your current size, accounting for the fact that you’ll probably go up a cup size and down a band size as your boobs fill up with milk and your rib cage contracts after the birth of your lovely bundle of joy. They may add on another cup size, it’s all a guessing game really.

So you buy 2 or 3 bras, in M&S it’s a box with one white, one black cotton bra. These first bras will get a lot of abuse, leaks will cover them, the black ones turn grey, the white ones yellow, you’ll probably wear them day and night, with pads inside so don’t go for anything pretty at this stage, support and comfort for your hard working, enlarging breasts is the most important thing! Might be worth getting a few band extenders too, for your own comfort, especially when sleeping. And no underwires, especially at this early stage.

After about 3 weeks (or 6 in my case), your milk production will often regulate, any engorgement might hopefully be a thing of the past and you should be a more “real” size now. (Even with my oversupply, the size fluctuations became less pronounced, so I leveled off for a couple of months before it finally sorted itself out). Time to get measured again, this one is usually much more accurate (don’t forget to bring pads to put inside the bras you’re trying on!). You can splash out now if you like on something a lot prettier, you’ll hopefully be wearing it for a few months.

I went from a 34A pre-pregnancy, to a 36C near the end of my pregnancy, to a 34E for the first 8 months or so and then levelled off to a comfy 34B when my oversupply finally resolved itself. So you can change sizes quite a bit over the course of the pregnancy and postpartum breastfeeding period.

Now, generally, nursing bras are not the most lovely things in the world, let’s face it in a country where less than 1% of babies are nursing at 6 months, there isn’t much of a market for sexy nursing bras. It is near impossible to find any nursing bras (let alone nice ones) in shops in Ireland, in one place I was told “No, we don’t stock those” as if I’d asked for something really odd! So they’re mostly white cotton utilitarian things with very little love gone into the design, and very little lovin’ inspired by the design! When you’re breastfeeding past a couple of months, it becomes part of your life, and I know I got fed up of all the ugly bras and just had to splash out on some pretty lingerie.

You can get lovely bras online, you take a risk with sizes and fit, but it’s worth it. Most places will do returns and exchanges, so it’s worth a try. It’s worth mentioning that as a smaller size, I don’t have much comments on how supportive these bras are, they’re all fine for me, but I don’t know about the bigger sizes! And it goes without saying that the pictures are not of me

1) Hot Milk

Hot Milk is a New Zealand company which specialises in sexy nursing lingerie, some of their stuff is fantastic. It’s not cheap though, but worth it for a special treat! I got mine from zodee, an Australian company that deliver worldwide (I know, I know, think of the carbon emissions!).

The interestingly named “Sinfully Sweet Seductress” is a black lace bra with soft cotton teal lining. Mine arrived today, and it is beyond beautiful. It’s super soft and very comfy. The sizes run small though, so order a cup size larger than you normally take, the bands are grand size-wise. You drop the cups with the usual plastic clip, easy for one-handed access! Hot Milk’s site, along with being a beautiful site, lists all their stockists. I suspect they will be supplying me with a few more pieces shortly!

2) Elle MacPherson

Elle MacPherson La Mere Nursing bra is black lace with a cotton lining and very comfortable, but also very un-cheap! Described to me as “fashion over function” by a shop assistant (why are they always so snooty?), I nevertheless loved mine. I wore it while I was a 34E and found it very supportive and very attractive! Plastic clasps for easy access.

3) JoJo Maman Bebe

JoJo Maman Bebe is a UK site which stock loads of maternity, nursing and baby clothes and a wide range of nursing bras. They change their online stock all the time, but I got two bras from them a while ago, a black lace one and a bordeaux (red) lace one. It’s rare to see red nursing bras! They’re a bit shapeless, and stretchy, but pretty. This looks like the same one, but it’s only available in black & white now. They have plastic clips too.

4) The Rainbow Bra

I had to get the Rainbow Bra when I saw it. It’s tie-dyed! But alas, my first day wearing it (last year) coincided with the worst plugged ducts I’ve had so far. I don’t know if it’s related but I’m scared of it now. Very cool bra though. A few minus points…

- The drop cup is accessed by metal poppers, I cannot do these up with one hand, and have flicked my nails while trying to open them, ouch.

- It doesn’t have an adjustable band, you have to put it on over your head and drag it down over your boobs, not the most comfortable. I think the band may be to blame for my plugged ducts, it’s quite clingy.

- The sizing is odd, it’s a bit too general, I have a M which in theory does a 36-40 band, but it has strong elastic which pinches. And the cups on the M are too big!

So I wouldn’t recommend it, unless you’re familiar with Bravado bras and know exactly that the style fits you perfectly and can open those darn buckles! But it is beyond funky! Love the design

That’s all that I can think of at the moment, figleaves.co.uk is a very popular site for nursing bras, I haven’t ordered from them yet, but I’ve heard good reports.

Do any of you have any favourites you’d like to recommend?