I did it! Back in November, I hit my goal of nursing my son for 1 year! Honestly, I didn’t realize how exhausting and draining, but rewarding and amazing this accomplishment would be. Through my 18+ months of experience, I thought I would put together a blog post covering some of my favorite nursing essentials. When I started this journey, I had a hard time finding great nursing bras & tanks, so I wanted to share my amazing finds and nursing mom’s musts:
Bras: The number 1 question I get is, what are the best nursing bras? After trying many, many different types of nursing bras, I’ve settled on my two favorites. For the daytime, I love my BRAVADO bras. They are incredibly comfortable and provide a bit more “lift” (if you can call it that with a nursing bra). I’ve also found that this is the best bra for my Elvie pump. I wear a size Large for my 34DD chest. For sleep, I prefer Kindred Bravely sleep bras. These bras don’t feel as constricting, which I need for sleep, but still provide easy access for nursing in the middle of the night if necessary. I know some women prefer to sleep in nursing PJs, but I never found comfortable ones that I liked!
Tanks– During the day, sometimes I just wear a nursing tank with a built-in bra. I do this, especially when traveling with my son. I love these tops from Amazon. I’ve found that it’s more comfortable to wear a tank than wearing a nursing bra when feeding in public, or pumping with my Elvie!
Nursing Cover– Speaking of feeding my son in public, this nursing cover I’ve raved about in my “Traveling with baby post” and my “Tips for cruising with a baby post” is a must. You can wear this as a scarf, use it as a car seat cover, a shopping cart cover, blanket, etc. Now that my son is older, he likes to peek through and pull the cover down, but it still allows him to focus a bit more than watching all of the other excitement around him.
Nipple cream– This was more of a must for me personally in the beginning stages of nursing. I don’t think I used nipple cream after the first 2 weeks, but this is a really good one!
Nursing pads– For a while, I was using disposable nursing pads. I had no issues with them, but I thought they were wasteful, so I tried washable pads. I liked these from Amazon the best. They are super absorbent, comfortable, and are made from organic bamboo. The best part is that they don’t poke out weird in the bra.
Nursing sweater: Over the last year, my wardrobe has definitely changed. I own way more nursing tops than I’d like to admit, but my very favorite nursing top is my gap nursing sweater. First of all, it’s super chic, and I get compliments on it every time I wear it. No one ever knows it’s a nursing sweater because it drapes like a regular cardigan, but then each corner can button at the shoulder for privacy during a nursing session. When we fly with Elliott, this is my staple airplane nursing outfit. It’s also super soft and works as a small blanket when cuddling.
What are your nursing mama musts and favorite products?
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