Underwire bras for breastfeeding

[Heavenscent86]

Just wondering if these are ok. I'm wearing a non wired bra at the moment during pregnancy but don't feel it offers much support. I'm hoping that if I stick to non wired for the rest of pregnancy and for the first few weeks after birth to allow for breast expansion and then for them to settle down again I could go back into underwired after that.

[Heavenscent86]

If I do that would my breasts have settled down size wise after about 4 weeks or will it be likely to take more or less time?

[herecomesmytrain]

I think they're fine. You can get underwired bras for breastfeeding. I bought some from figleaves as I felt I needed the extra support too.

[Picklesauage]

I had one fitted by rigby and peller. Much more confidante than my bf bras first time round!

[KatharinaRosalie]

They are fine to wear, as long as the fit is good and wire is not pressing on your breast tissue.

[spacefrog35]

I just got one of these www.nursingbra-shop.co.uk/Anita%2DMaternity%2Dnursing%2Dbras/

really comfortable & the delivery was really prompt as well.

[Unhappyexpat]

Nursingbrashop are very good

I wasn't so keen on the Anita but the hot milk bras are fabulous

I didn't think I'd get away with a non wired one but they have a really supportive construction- actually better than most of my underwited bras.

[Heavenscent86]

Thanks everyone. I might try a hot milk one but my back size is only a 30 and I think they start at 32 so I'm not sure if they would fit or not. They do seem to have some nice choices though. Most maternity and nursing bras that I've seen are not very fetching.

[museumum]

How far through pregnancy are you? Your rib cage might expand a size and may not go back at all that quickly.

Ps. I liked the Anita and had it in black and nude.

[Heavenscent86]

I'm nearly 32 weeks now. I'm not sure if my ribcage would have already expanded by now or not.

[Heavenscent86]

I like the look of the raspberry Anita bra but again back size might be a problem.

[Highlove]

JoJo Mamam Bebe do an underwired nursing bra.

I wore an underwired bra all through the last pregnancy and intend to do the same this time. Just need to make sure it fits and change sizes as needed.

[intothebreach]

I don't wish to be the voice of doom, because I know how utterly depressingly unattractive most nursing bras are, but I don't think you should spend good money at this stage, not until you know what size your are going to be.

Against all advice, I think unwired nursing bras are fine after about six weeks or so, once your supply has got into some kind of rhythm. However, in the early weeks, you are taking big risks with the wiring pressing on you in the wrong places, causing blockages when you have so much milk, and possibly leading to very painful infections.

I'll give you my own example -

32dd before pregnancy
32e at 32ish weeks
34g (yes, G!) until my baby was 6 weeks old
back down slowly through 34 e etc by about six months
still feeding at 3.5 years old, using ordinary under wired bras for most of that, but 32 e until about 6 months ago.

You have no idea yet what size you are going to be. Maybe get one or two non wired bras for the first few weeks, then get some decent pretty ones once your supply has settled down.

[KatharinaRosalie]

Another option is to buy normal bras and either use them as they are (it's not that difficult to get a boob out of the cup) or convert to a nursing bra, it's not difficult to do.
I'm currently a 30H and choice in underwired nursing bras is very limited. Plenty of choice in normal bras though.

[Missingcaffeine]

I totally agree with intothebreach, I wouldn't buy a nursing bra before baby arrives for exactly the same reason. I wore underwired throughout pregnancy, but found my size changed a lot during pregnancy and after. I breastfed for a year.

My bra sizes
30f pre-pregnancy
32f somewhere in the middle
32gg somewhere towards the end - though this had room for expansion

In the final weeks, I wore a cheap soft crop top style bra like this as found the underwired uncomfy as my bump was so high. I ended up wearing this soft bra to feed in for the early weeks - waiting for my boobs to settle. I would highly recommend doing the same. Also i had a lot of milk and this used to leak a lot despite breast pads, so I'd often need to change my bra frequently - have a load of cheap ones was really helpful.

Once they had settled (which from memory was at least a few weeks) I bought a couple of more expensive and well fitted nursing bras. I can't remember what size these were.

[TheCatsMeow]

My boobs blew up to what I'd guess was about a 30J when my milk came in (didn't bf long enough to know for sure), I'm a 28GG normally and didn't get any real boob growth until then.

My ribcage did go back very quickly though

[SnozzberryMincePie]

The Anita ones are great but they come up small.

[KatharinaRosalie]

yes, Anita has different sizing and skips double letters. If you're already FF, it probably won't fit

[whatsoever]

Last time I got cheapy Mothercare nursing bras at 38w pregnant to tide me over and then a couple of the Anita underwired ones about 8 weeks after DS was born when my boobs had settled down.

I measured 34E with a tape measure but needed 32F in the Anita bras as they are stretchy on the back size and European sizes (they don't have DD, so from E onwards are a size bigger IYSWIM).

I measured 36E before the birth so I was glad not to have bought the expensive/good ones then.

[SnozzberryMincePie]

Sorry for highjacking but if anyone knows of an underworld nursing bra which goes up to a hh cup I would be very grateful!

[SnozzberryMincePie]

Under wired! Damn autocorrect

[SnozzberryMincePie]

Although I love the idea of underworld nursing bras...

[KatharinaRosalie]

Freya Pure I think goes to HH.

[SnozzberryMincePie]

Thanks