Finding Comfortable, Supportive Breastfeeding Bras

Breastfeeding bras can be a tricky purchase.

At the most basic level, you need one that provides an excellent amount of support for your ever-growing, milk-producing breasts and easy access to get food to your baby – but is it impossible to find bras that look AND feel good??

Look no further – I have some tips for finding the right breastfeeding bras:

Try to have it fitted properly.

Quite a few stores catering to mothers – including chain stores like Motherhood Maternity – will measure you for a proper fit for your breastfeeding bra, if you ask for it. Having the right band and cup size definitely makes a difference in how comfortable your bra is.

Even if you think you know your size, it doesn’t hurt to be properly measured, now that your milk has come in and you’ve seen other weight and size changes. Some women bump up two or three cup sizes, especially immediately after the birth, so your cup size is definitely different; as your weight fluctuates and you lose the fluids retained during the pregnancy, your bandwidth size may have changed as well.

But, if you can’t have it fitted in-store by a professional (although I use that term somewhat loosely – the girl who fitted me kind of half-heartedly wrapped the measuring tape around my chest a few times before giving me a suggested size), here are a few things to look for to make sure you have a good fit:

- Place the clasp at the lowest setting (at the end of the band).

- Stand straight with your arms at your sides. The cups should fit flush against your breasts, with no gaps or, on the other extreme, excess breast tissue spilling out.

- Look at the fabric underneath your armpits; with your arm down, the fabric should be smooth, and shouldn’t look constricted or super-stretched, or baggy.

- Adjust the straps to where it feels comfortable; do they feel as though they’re digging into your shoulders, or that they’ll fall off your shoulders.

Avoid the underwire support bras!

My one caveat to this: If you’re opting for extended breastfeeding, you may be able to go back to underwire bras if you’ve cut down the number of times you’re nursing in a day. A few months after my daughter’s first birthday, we started nursing in just the morning and evening, and I found that the cups of my support bras were now pretty loose now that I didn’t have my breasts filling up with milk every couple of hours.

So, I tried wearing some of my old pre-baby underwire bras, and I haven’t had any troubles yet. (But go slow, just in case it is problem for you – try wearing a nursing bra every other day for a week or two.)

Think of how many breastfeeding bras you’ll need, and what kind(s).

Sleep bras are different than regular support bras; depending on your comfort level, you could probably sleep in a regular breastfeeding bra, but the ones specifically designed for it are a bit softer, thinner and more comfortable to wear under your pajamas.

I actually prefer to sleep in nursing bra tank tops – in the summer, it’s all I need to wear with my pajama pants, and in the winter, it’s a perfect replacement for the T-shirt I used to wear underneath my scratchy (but warm) flannels, pre-baby. I would also suggest getting one that’s a bit longer, for better coverage of your (still recovering) belly.

For your regular breastfeeding bras, there are now all the same options as regular bras. Racer back? T-shirt? Lacy? Casual? Sexy? The choice is yours!

Since there are so many options, my best advice is to try on as many as possible, if you have that option; but either way, make sure you look at lots of different kinds to find one you like.

But when you find the perfect balance of fit, comfort and style, I would suggest snapping up several of the same kind – I know I always have such a hard time finding just the right bra, so when it comes to breastfeeding bras especially, make sure you load up on the right ones!

Good luck!

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