Looking in my closet is just plain depressing.
Not a whole lot fits. And what does is not that cute. After ten minutes of growling at every single item, I put on the non-cute-sortof-fitting stuff to realize that it isn’t nursing friendly. all two tops. And then I slap on my maternity pants (because I’m still not back in my fat-girl pants) and a nursing tank with one of Jer’s old button-ups over it. It’s like a really ugly uniform these days.
I decided to make a wish list of stuff that IS nursing friendly without being overtly a ‘nursing’ shirt. It’s funny how when we are pregnant, we run out and buy an entire new wardrobe to fit our changing body. We wear those items for a solid five months while pregnant (and then if you are like me, you wear it for about five months post-preggo). But we don’t do the same for nursing. I mean…I nurse longer than my pregnancies last. It would make sense to get a few new nursing friendly tops! Here’s what I’ve been eyeing…
As you can see, I stuck to a nursing top formula….kimonos, button-downs, and easy-access tops. Of course, I am still looking for that magical nursing top that has built in Spanx in the waist area with boob access that also lifts and firms and is fully milk and vomit proof. I’d pay top dollar for that one!
I was so happy when I could stop wearing nursing friendly shirts and bras! I felt like the whole world had suddenly opened up to me 🙂
These are winners. I am not breast feeding and I would wear each of these.
Have you seen these?
http://m.target.com/p/bumped-by-blanqi-post-partum-nursing-cami-assorted-colors/-/A-14523031
I’m due in a few months, and hoping to try one of these out… They have mixed reviews, so I’m not sure (the BEbands tend to roll up on my hips, too) but I like that you don’t have to pull it up/down, just unsnap your nursing bra and move your short out of the way 🙂
Thanks for posting! I’m in the same situation, as we just brought our baby girl into the world three weeks ago. Nice to know I’m not the only person recycling two shirts…
I’m pregnant with my first baby and seriously hadn’t even thought about breast feeding friendly tops! Glad you posted about this because I think I only own like two button down shirts… 🙂
I found it so hard to dress nice pre & post baby. By the third my wardrobe was pathetic and I was too tired to care. I took me until my youngest hit past two that I started to replenish my wardrobe. Now she is five and I have dove head first into bringing in new pieces into my closet on a monthly basis just like my pre-mom years. But with three kids and the business I have begun to loathe shopping so I just signed up for Stitch Fix – https://www.stitchfix.com/. We shall see!
Camisoles were always critical for me. I preferred to wear a semi-loose fitting top and access the girls from the bottom. The camis are great at preventing post-baby belly exposure, which always concerned me much more than actually exposing the girls! I was never great at remembering to bring a coverup and when you access from below that leaves your main shirt bunched up around the baby’s head, which can be used as an attempt at covering up…if you are so inclined. That’s a tip for newbie nursers. Katie, I’m sure you could breastfeed upside down while holding all three boys at this point 🙂 I nursed my first for 14 months and second for 20 months and never purchased a nursing top…kind of ridiculous! xoxo
I have a shirt from Momzelle that I just love for breastfeeding. With pydjamas, it’s my new mom uniform! http://www.momzelle.com
I found it easiest to wear cotton/stretchy tops when nursing, with a cami and nursing bra underneath (or just a nursing tank if you don’t need the extra support of a bra). The top can go up and the tummy remains covered. worse that combo for over a year of nursing, at home and for pumping at work.
Undercover mama slimming tank. It is just the tank body the hooks onto your nursing bra. With a tummy slimmer. So brilliant. Their tanks are the foundation of my nursing wardrobe. Then just shirts I can lift up, since I am covered under.
Check out Boob Design shirts – I hear they are the magic nursing tops and dresses – Kind of pricy though, but I hear its worth it!
With how awesome some of my maternity jeans are (this pair I have on has like 4 areas of elastic in the wasitband) I will NEVER wear real jeans again! Why suffer in real pants, when they make maternity pants that don’t even look maternity!
I stuck to a tank top with a loose neck as a staple for everything while I nursed/pumped. Even the cheap ones at Target for $5 worked well. Regardless of what I wore over it – it worked well.
Also – stretchy yoga pants! I was not about to put on maternity pants again after I had my first – and I won’t do it with #2 either. Until I fit back into my fat pants I wear yoga pants, skirts and dresses!
Old Navy has a Henley almost identical to the one from Gap, except it has buttons. It comes in twice as many colors for half the price and is super soft! I love it for nursing. I wear a nursing tank underneath and am good to go!
I love #4 – that turquoise top? It’s gorgeous! I’m too busty for racer backs though… the types of bras I have to wear are NOT cute enough to have exposed straps in any way! No babies for me, but you’ve got such a great sense of style I can’t help but comment anyway!
I hear ya! I am nursing my 1 week old right now! (First time momma!)
My sister bought me a tank with built in spans from pea in the pod. It’s amazing!
I am pregnant with my second and nursed my first for 13 months. Nursing tanks and cardigans were my go-to “uniform” for many months. I am a huge lover of cardigans, so I have a million of them. While I only had a black, white and pink nursing tank colors, changing up the cardigan helped to not feel like I was wearing the same thing over and over. Add a scarf and it’s an even different outfit! I also tried to focus on buying a few cute pieces of jewelry or a nice pair of shoes during the “transitional” post-baby body/nursing time since none of those made me feel fat. 🙂
I agree with Lisa – camis are my BFF! I wear either a nursing tank or a cami with a low enough neckline to pull down every single day underneath whatever shirt I’m wearing. That way, I’m not limited at all in the shirts I’m wearing, I just pull the top shirt up and pull my cami down, then everything stays covered! It works like a charm. Now my only problem is getting some nursing-friendly dresses – I miss wearing them!
I loved those belly cover-up band things when I was nursing. It meant I could wear regular tops & pull them up w/o flashing my post-partum belly. Revolutionary!
My best friends while nursing were built-in bra camis. I could wear just about any shirt on top, then lift it up, pull the cami down, and voila, a relatively modest, very comfortable nursing solution.
On another blog/vlog that I follow, the woman loves the brand “boob” for their nursing tops.
This is a link to her post about postpartum clothing haul: http://www.annasaccone.com/2014/04/mommy-monday-postpartum-clothing-haul.html
And this is one of the shirts she is always wearing: http://shop.boobdesign.com/en/product/419/nursing-top-short-sleeve
I bought like, five of these nursing shirts and paired them with a jean jacket, cardigans, or just with some statement jewelry. I like these pull down ones vs the snap ones…so much easier.
http://www.motherhood.com/Product.asp?Product_Id=994670362&MasterCategory_Id=MC29
Check out http://www.glamourmom.com/ tanks! They are the BEST! And you don’t have to fumble with a nursing bra in addition… it’s all built in and is actually supportive. They have some with ruching that actually look pretty cute with an open front cardi. They are my lifesaver! Congrats!
This is my life right now! My uniform is yoga pants with a maternity stretchy tank under my shirt. The messy ponytail (not cute) and no makeup complete the look. When I was pregnant, I bought some nursing friendly maternity clothes but now I just feel pregnant when I wear them because they have that ruching on the belly and make it pooch out more than I need it to. I should have invested more in a nursing-friendly wardrobe but I was thinking that it was a waste of money. Seven months into nursing, I was so wrong! Thanks for sharing these, I’ll have to check some out!
I always just wore tank tops underneath whatever shirt I was wearing. Then I’d just pull my shirt up to breast feed. It was my makeshift nursing cover since my son could never eat under one of those tents. Still…some of those tops are super cute!
Love all of these! I am still cookin’ my first one but am always looking for options too and just discovered these – have you seen them? They hook straight up to nursing bras so you can wear them underneath your regular shirts (or just a cardigan or whatever) and just have one piece to detach for ‘easy access’ and full tummy coverage, too.
(Of course I say this with no actual experience…I am sure you know better than me what works and what doesn’t! Just something intriguing!)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HNGWIPO/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_4?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A231EIZPN6OM4T
I have been nursing babies/toddlers for the past 8 years so I know a thing or two about nursing shirts;) I just recently (with my last baby) discovered Undercover Mama nursing tanks that rock my world. They attach to your regular nursing bra (which is great for me b/c I have a sizable rack, ahem and regular nursing tanks with the bra built in just don’t work), they keep your jelly gut kind of sucked in and they keep everything covered and you can wear whatever shirt you want over top of them. Check them out. http://undercovermama.com/
Have you seen the undercover mama tanks? They are basically a tank that clips to your nursing bra (so you have the undershirt coverage without the extra staps up top). I LOVE these! They are pretty long and some have lace at the bottom. I have been able to layer my normal shirts with these and just pull up the top layer to nurse now. And it covers the belly that i dont want peeps to see. So nice. I wish I found those before I dumped a ton on nursing tanks (which don’t give me enough support!)
Congrats! Your kiddos are the cutest!
Hi Katie. A friend of mine shared her secret early on with me and I found it worked really well for me too! I always wore a low fitting cami under any shirt that I wore. That way I could just lift up whatever shirt I had on, but still be completely covered underneath. Then I could just pop my girls out and go to town nursing. It made me feel much more comfortable nursing in public.
Ug I know! I’m still nursing my 10 month old and never bought any nursing friendly tops because I didn’t want to waste money but it would have been nice to have a few cute tops over these past months. Thanks for the post!
I feel your pain. I just bought non-maternity jeans up a size or 2 because I was getting depressed at the thought of wearing the maternity ones any longer. But now i need some shorts because it’s warming up and none fit. Darn winter baby!
For nursing I just pull up knit shirts. I did get a couple new ones from target because my old ones were stretched to the max with my increased boob size. Then I bought a bunch of the $2 camisoles and cut off the straps and sewed a loop to hook them into my nursing get bra to convert them into nursing tanks. So much cheaper, and now I have lots of fun colors too! And this way when I pull up the outer shirt I’m not flashing my lovely dough-belly.
My nursing never lasted as long as I hoped/ imagined it would, but finally with baby #3 I bought some nursing tank tops. Because like other posts I didn’t like the idea of my belly showing. I so wish I would have invested in them with #1 ( or #2). I could wear them under a regular shirt and just pull that shirt up if I needed to.
Jennie
I remember getting to church with my new baby for the first time postpartum…and realizing I was wearing a dress. Sleep deprivation makes you D-U-M-B!
I made myself something that is my go-to. Take thin stretchy fabric with a healthy dose of spandex (I chopped old exercise pant legs, but sport, tanks and swim stuff would work too) and make a tube that fits round your middle from low hips to just under the boobs. It smooths that squashy area and covers my midriff whenever Baby kicks off enough nursing shield to show the world the stretch marks he made.
A tank top in a size or two too small works great – just slice off the top and you’re good to go!
I was totally not prepared for the restrictions of a nursing-friendly wardrobe! But as my lite guy is learning to walk, I find myself bending over all the time to hold his hands, and the goods are allllllllll out on display. Any suggestions for something easy access, but kind of high necked? Or do you just tough it out tshirt/cami style until they wean? Merci!
I’m with several other people here- nursing camis all the way! No belly exposure, and now that I’ve been nursing for 8 months, I don’t care as much about a cover (honestly, most people don’t notice and the top shirt acts like one). I bought a few Goodwill button downs and tunics immediately after birth which I loved at the time, but I’m glad I didn’t spend more because the girls were going way up and then way down in size. I saved my new clothing purchases for about 4 or 5 months out – closer to my weight and new boob size. But everyone heals differently and nurses differently- you know what’s best for you by #3! The top row is my favorite.
Yes and amen! I have thought the same thing! And I don’t understand why almost all designated nursing tops are also maternity tops. I might still need maternity pants, but not tops. And let’s not even get started on church! My church (and hubby) are pretty old fashioned. Cute, nursing friendly, church appropriate dresses are just as much of a problem!
I hear you! I was in your same boat last year and really like H&Ms top called Jersey Tops that are like dressy henleys that I think are both comfortable and stylish. Old Navy also has a lot of cute summer ready button downs right now.
Oh, and Forever 21 has an awesome selection of peasant tops right now that are all very nursing friendly too!
Great finds, Katie! I am bigger busted and began to loathe nursing bras after about 3 months. Best thing I’ve done with both my babes was buy my favorite normal sexier bra (in colors and prints), bought some nursing clips and extra bra straps online, and with some cuts and straight line sewing you can make your own bras for quick access nursing! There’s an easy online tutorial if you google it. I also agree with previous poster, I wear a cami or tank under everything and just pull the top short up over my boob and the tank under and it’s discreet keeping everything covered. I’m a cute t-shirt and jeans kind of mom so that works for me.
Thank you for posting this! I am currently expecting my first child, and hope to be able to breastfeed as long as possible. I have no idea what to wear so this is super helpful!
~ Nicole from http://bumpsandbeginnings.blogspot.com
I had my second, a little boy, on March 26 also. He was born on his due date and was 9 lbs 9 oz, pretty close in size to your little one I think! He was born super quickly and easily with no meds-much easier than my 8 lb daughter!! 🙂 I also dread getting dressed. I can fit in some of my pre pregnancy clothes, but not much is nursing friendly. I bought some nursing tanks from H&M. They are well priced, organic cotton, and seem to be good quality. The down side is that they seem to be sold out often. For size reference, (as I wondered when buying) I got a medium which fits pretty well right now, but will be getting too big definitely as I get closer to pre pregnancy weight and shape-usually wear a 4-6 or small. I would have gotten a small but it was sold out.
I like it. -Jean
I own the number two shirt. It is light and durable. 🙂
I haven’t nursed in a very very long time, but the other day I found myself in the nursing bra aisle in target and holy cow they had some beautiful bras, camis, pj tops. Geez I don’t know why they have to wait until I’m done to roll those out. Anyway, some of those cami tops would be awesome if paired with a button down shirt.
I wear bravado essential nursing tank tops and a shirt over top (usually a tshirt, but can be anything I can pull up.) that way I can pull up my shirt and unhook my tank to nurse. That way my top boob (yes, that’s a thing) is covered and my belly is covered and just what is needed is out. Totally comfortable, I feel like a normal human and not a schlub, and it’s discreet (if that’s not your thing, at least try the nursing tanks.) seriously. You’re welcome in advance 😛
I wear them daily and nightly.
Still nursing one year later… My nursing uniform is the long Vnecks and an open cardi.
Listen. I love this post. I am 2 months post baby and dealing with the SAME situation. Nothing fits. unless it’s ugly and still has a large elastic band attached to it.