'm afraid I have organized this poorly but here's my brain dumb on nursing and clothing. Please add your thoughts.
As always, start with what you like and then take these tips into account to accommodate nursing. As with maternity wear there's no need to put fashion on hold. You will have to experiment with what works for you.
Nursing wear - Clothing designed with nursing access. My short answer is-- don't bother. It's true that I haven't given much thought to nursing wear since my first child 6 years ago and things may have improved since then (actually, I have found nursing dresses this time-- see below) but my experience is that they're just not flattering. Basically, nursing wear centers around t-shirts and aren't we all trying to escape t-shirts? I suspect that any advances in flattering nursing wear have been made in the fitted t-shirt arena and if I'm going to wear a fitted t-shirt, it's just as easy (and cheaper probably) to pull it up than to fumble with the ins and outs of nursing access.
To pull up or to pull down - Most women find they have a preference when nursing whether to pull their clothing aside from the top or to pull it up from the bottom. There is no right or wrong-- it's just personal preference. My personal preference stems from a lazy perspective, as in I want to do whatever is easiest. After a combined nursing time of 54 months among three children and counting, the plain truth is that when you have a hungry child *any* clothing gets in the way. For my first two children, I was a puller up and now I'm a puller down although it does depend on what I'm wearing and where I am so here are the pros and cons as I see them.
Pull down pros:
o convenient to pull aside
o works well with tucking or belting
Pull down cons:
o If you leak, you leak down. This gives you a good chance of leaking onto your clothing and breastmilk does not just dry like water.
o Exposure of your chest
o If pulling down involves buttons, they take time and two hands to undo and redo
Pull up pros:
o Pulled up top provides chest coverage
o Easy to pull top down over breasts
o Easier to avoid leaking onto your clothes
Pull up cons:
o Not as easy to get all the fabric up and then the bra down.
o Reveal mid section
o Takes a little effort to re-situate ensemble especially if top was tucked or you're wearing a belt
The cons in both cases can be solved as you'll see below.
Nursing bras: Nursing bras really require their own post.
Layering garments: Your best friend postpartum is really the layering garment. Layering garments will smooth your postpartum belly and provide coverage for nursing. There are several choices.
o Nursing camisole - I can only recommend the nursing tank for home lounge wear use. While convenient they do not provide support or look good under clothing on their own. Personally I don't see the point of wearing them with a nursing bra as this just means two sets of clips to get tangled, undo and redo and the other options will work just as well.
o Bella band or something similar- covers your belly if you pull your top up. Covers regular pants that you can't quite button up yet.
o Camisole - some people like to put slits in the right place to allow for access. I just pull the neckline down. I haven't had any problems with my camisoles losing shape by doing this, and I find the camisole easy to pull right back up for coverage while I re-situate the rest of my ensemble. If you pull up the camisole from the bottom, you lose the advantage of belly coverage and you're just giving yourself more clothing to fumble with. Be sure to have camisole that are not loose.
o Second base half camisoles - Brilliant nursing solution that makes pulling up and putting back a camisole that much easier because you don't have to worry about all that extra fabric. Of course, if you are pulling up this means you might want to wear a bella band which makes me think this is more of a solution for chest coverage for the pull down preference.
Knits vs. wovens
As much as I love wovens, knits are are really the way to go for nursing and comfort. They're just easier to stretch this way and that as necessary.
Tops
Knits - If you pull down, look for deep v's and scoop necks. You should have the goods to pull these off if you're nursing. All other necklines will have to be pulled up.
Wovens - You can still wear wovens but you'll probably be limited to
o button downs - Wear a cami and keep more of the top buttons unbuttoned so that you have fewer to undo and redo to nurse
o zip front - wear a cami so you can be covered while you're managing the zipper.
o volume - Voluminous woven tops will allow you to pull up easily and without fear of ripping a seam. Wovens don't stretch a lot and the waist of the top will have to be large enough to pull up over your chest. Hey, if' it's voluminous enough, you may even be able to fit baby underneath the top all together. I also like surrendering the waistline because I'm still waiting for mine to come back.
Jackets - While jackets in principle sound like a good way to polish your postpartum look they may not be very practical at first and you may want to stick to cardigans because:
- not so comfortable. Unless they're knit, jackets just weren't very comfortable for me. There are milk ducts all the way under your arms which were sensitive for me and the arm holes just felt too constricting.
- they're hot. Postpartum, there are a lot of hormones going on plus I live in a warm climate.
- In theory jackets can just be pushed to the side, but they are still additional bulk to be dealt with accessing your body.
Dresses - For my first two babies, I gave up dresses all together in favor of skirts. You just can't "pull up" a dress. But this time around as I've embraced pulling down, I've rediscovered dresses and picked up several.
o Stick to knits with deep v's, scoop, deep cowl necks or any other style that is large enough to pull down
o For wovens you will need front button or zip access like the tops. Wovens are really hard to do except for shirt dresses usually.
o There are some knit nursing dresses that I've come across that look good and allow for nursing access. Brands: Annee Matthew, Mothers En Vogue, Miravos. The nursing access simply allows for chest coverage. These dresses could also work just by pulling down.
Shoes - Be comfortable and have fun, whatever that means for you. You don't need to give up style here as Angie has told us time and time again.
Accessories
o Necklaces - A lot of people say to stay away from necklaces with babies. A newborn won't be grabbing anything very effectively and I say there's no reason you can't start disciplining your child not to grab your jewelry. I do advise sticking with short chunky necklaces. If it sits closer to your neck, a baby will have a harder time getting it into his mouth and it won't be in the way for nuring.
o Scarves - you may or may not want to deal with your baby pulling on your neck. It probably depends on how much of a scarf person you are. But having one handy can be a great cover up.
o bags - Have fun with bags whether you get a dedicated nursing bag or a roomy handbag. I just use my handbags as I generally carry only diapers, wipes and a burp cloth. I use a cloth diaper case that makes it easy to transfer between bags. I do have couple of diaper bags which I use when travelling.
o If you wear specs, you can't give them up and a watch usually doesn't get in the way.
Extra tips:
- If you pull down, use a burp cloth or baby blank as you would use a top that you were pulling up. that is, have the burp cloth at the ready on your chest, in your hand to cover yourself or catch drips as necessary.
- Baby wipes do wonders on spit up and such if you get to them fairly immediately or maybe even not so immediately. It's like magic as far as my experience goes.
- If you are caught in a bind leaking with nothing to absorb it except your clothing, pull up your top and leak near the hem so that the wet spot will end up at your waist instead of on your chest
- Either use a nursing cover or practice in front of the mirror for nursing in public.
- The most important thing of all-- give yourself a break. Nursing is *not* easy and neither is dressing to nurse. Give yourself plenty of time to practice and enjoy nursing your baby.Thout
