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There are a number of things that may be helpful to consider when buying bras for pregnancy and/or breastfeeding.
Comfort: Your breasts can be sore and tender, so comfort should be a top priority. Look for bras with soft fabrics and wide, adjustable straps that won't dig into your skin. For breastfeeding, try to avoid bras that have the seam on your nipple as this can be tender and cause difficulties whilst your nipple is adjusting to feeding.
Size: As your body changes during pregnancy, your bra size may also change. It's important to get measured for a maternity bra to ensure the best fit. Many women find that they need to go up a size or two as their pregnancy progresses. Some people like soft bras that can stretch a little to accommodate changing sizes.
Support: Maternity bras should offer good support to the breasts, especially as they grow and become heavier. Look for bras with wider bands and cups that fully cover the breasts. However, underwire is not a good idea at time, especially for those with larger breast that need support (where the underwire may dig in a little). Your breasts need freedom to grow without hard items digging into the tissue, and your ribcage needs to move freely so you can breathe deeply. This is especially important once you get to the third trimester and beyond as your lungs will have less space to move downwards (as your organs and baby will be taking up more space) so it's important that your ribs can expand outwards to make up for this constriction.
Accessibility: If you plan to breastfeed, you'll need maternity bras with nursing clips or easy access to the breast.
Style: Maternity bras come in a variety of styles, from sports bras to lacy bras. Choose a style that makes you feel comfortable and confident. Some people wear bras as functional items only and prefer a simple crop top style look. Some people want to have maternity bras that are pretty or lacey. As with everything, figure out what matters to you and prioritise meeting your needs. It doesn't matter what anyone else thinks, buy yourself the bra that makes you feel good.
Breathability: It is important to choose bras that are breathable and allow air to flow through to reduce the risk of skin irritations or infection. Cotton is often recommended, and temperature regulation can get a bit up and down in late pregnancy and early postnatally, so something that doesn't make you sweat is ideal.
Night bras: Some women find it more comfortable to wear soft night bras at nighttime as well during the perinatal time. they can provide support, and if you're breastfeeding they can be handy to hold nipple pads in the early days when you might leak milk. It's important that night bras are totally soft and don't have any hard clips or plastic sections to them as otherwise they can contribute to blocked ducts.
Recommendations from Members of The Baby Village
I would really recommend the H&M ones (particularly for the early days until your size settles down). They are cheap and cheerful but really comfortable. Be careful to filter for 100% cotton when looking though, as quite a few of there crop top style ones have a high polyester content
I've found these Desirelove bras from Amazon great for the change in size needed over time -LINK
I also like H&M ones. Still wear them as my normal bra even though I’ve stopped breastfeeding as super comfy. I’m small chested and didn’t buy anything until I started feeding because I had no idea what size I’d be! Small was fine. Also if you need something overnight (I did to contain an oversupply) then make sure it is entirely soft shell without plastic clasps or lumps as sleeping on anything that digs in even a little very quickly leads to blocked ducts
I tried Seraphine's bamboo bras and they were lovely and soft, good for the early days. Once my sizing was more stable I treated myself to a couple of bravissimo ones and now I practically live in them. Quite pricey but definitely worth it if you're in their size range.
I really struggled to find comfy nursing bras as I have a very large cup size. I recommend either Bravissimo (which I'm sure many will know) or an online shop called Sugar candy https://www.sugarcandybra.com/ which has incredible unwired nursing bras even suitable for big boobs. M&S has very few or none for my size and this was something I found very stressful as I need a bra in the day (although I didn't for the first few weeks). Also beware of seams across the nipple, several of the bravissimo bras were like this and it's no good in the early days with sore nipples. Also the prevailing advice is to wait until near the end of third trimester for the baby 'to drop' before getting measured [this is when babies move down into the pelvis at the end of pregnancy and therefore you get more space around your ribcage]. This didn't happen for me as I'm short so I took an educated guess of what I might be for one bra and bought the rest after birth. My size is 34 G, so small waist and big cup size. Often large cup size assumes also large waist, so it's difficult to find bras. However the models on the Sugarcandy site were quite varied including ladies with also a larger waist, I think that the way the bra stretches could be pretty versatile.
I can only tolerate 100% cotton and have been reduced to wearing only the night nursing bras from JoJo (which I do highly recommend btw - very comfy) https://www.jojomamanbebe.co.uk/2-pack-maternity-nursing-sleep-bras-a9252.html)
I actually prefer not cotton especially in the early days as all the leaks (esp overnight) meant wet and cold cotton. I still enjoy the H&M nursing bras for summer and H&M nursing vests for winter. I have rather small boobs and even pre-baby was wearing comfy sport bras
I find Lindex bras really good! They also have great baby clothes 🤗https://www.lindex.com/uk/lingerie/bra/nursing-bra
https://thepantryunderwear.com/ This shop has beautiful maternity and feeding bras online or in Saffron Walden. Make sure you check the opening times of the shop!
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Alongside running The Baby Village, Bryony teaches pregnancy and baby yoga classes, runs a private practice as a counsellor, offers Mother's Mentoring and Birth Trauma Recovery counselling.
She also runs therapeutic groups including Tender Postnatal- a group for mothers in the first year and Mothers Rising - a consciousness raising group for women with children.
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