to think even a good fitting bra is still bloody uncomfy!!!

[Wigglewoo]

If anyone is good at fitting bras here would appreciate a hand!! - trips into town impossible at the moment due to newborn ds (I'm not breastfeeding by the way re bra sizes) ...

I used to be a 28F / FF .. During pregnancy I was fitted at bravissimo and was a 32G so I brought 3 non wired bras.. Ds is now 9 weeks (ok so ot newborn but still new!) And I need some new bras as I'm finding everything is either digging in underneath or underwired ones are digging in like mad where my arm pit is!

I ordered several from bravissimo in 30GG, 32G and a 30FF - all dig in :( surely I can't be that oddly shaped!? The 30gg was ok except for digging in under my arms.. I spoke to the customer care fit line and she says if its smooth over the cups (which it was) then it fits ok! But how can it when its painful under my arms?! The back fitted on the very first set of hooks so the fitter said to try a 28h but the other bras I ordered were a bit large in the cup if anything so I don't think that's right!! (But going to try)!

I'm fed up now, may just burn the bras and go bra less. Maybe im just less tolerant of things digging in now I'm busy with ds I don't know... I just can't bear wearing them anymore!!!

Am I the only one like this?? Or does everyone find bras as unreasonable and uncomfortable as me???

(Title should probably read "well fitting" - I'm too sleep deprived for grammar!!)

Well fitted bras aren't uncomfortable. Sounds like the ones you have aren't the right size.

You need to get fitted. Why are trips into town impossible with a nine week old?

I have quite big boobs too and hate walking around without a bra, to me that is mega uncomfortable!

Have you been fitted in shop post pregnancy or are you guessing at your size? Sounds like you need a wider back fitting, maybe 34, 36 . . .

Its just too stressful - I live rurally and its a 40 mins drive there and to be honest I don't have the patience, energy or stress levels to make it enjoyable right now (and have dd aged 9 too).

Bravissimo are great and do an excellent fit, however their preference is for a very tight fit around the chest (for support). This may not suit everyone, if you are small in the ribs and generous in the breast you maybe finding that your breasts come well round the sides of your ribs IYSWIM.

So you might suit a more relaxed chest fit and take some of the support on your shoulders instead, as advocated by other fitters such as debenhams or JohnLewis.

So you would go up a size in the chest and down a size in the cup (The cup size is a measurement proportionate to the chest so you can't change one without the other (if you are usually a 28F you would become a 30E/EE)

This should mean you still get a cup which fits but which is less snug round your ribs, and hopefully more comfortable.

You do have to try a few though as (annoyingly, womens clothes sizes aren't standardised ... mutter mutter mutter.. whole other thread) different makes are slightly different even for same size.

I am a 28DD and find debenhams do a brand called Gorgeous which have lots of choice for the smaller chest / larger breast lady gorgeous

Ahh bras. 'mazing. You don't mention if you're BD, they'd be a bit awkward if so, but they have revolutionised my life (I'm a DD so not exactly small busted either!)

Bf not bd!!

Welsh op says she is not bf. :)

I'm only a B cup but am wearing an Ahhh bra knockoff atm and it is incredibly comfortable (was only a fiver on hols, I only bought two but wish I'd got about 10)

If you're bigger, or doing sports, you can wear one over the other for extra support.

Sorry, I am blind!! [doh]

Have you tried a sports bra? loads of support without the underwire.

I hate bras and bra shopping (i always end up crying). I have been told i am un-bra-able by everyone who has measured me. I was told in M&S, John Lewis and Debenhams to 'just wear vests'. The NCT lady also told me she couldn't find anything for me.

It is so depressing i feel like a monumental freak. I feel your pain OP :(

Spuddy poor you - what a strange thing to say - surely you can't have such unique boobs there is no bra at all!

Thank you aLl. Never heard of ahh bras (??) I will have a look :)

I did wonder about geTting a bigger band but the 30 is already on the tightest hook so surely if anything I should go down?? I find it crazy that on paper I look like a big size but my boobs seem flat (!) Rather than sexy and round!!!

Just needed a moan really.. (Sorry)! :)

Apparently so. I am a mutated monster. When i said my size (not really but closest thing) the lady in M&S actually laughed and the one in JL stared at my boobs and said 'noooo, really? you don't look it'. They all insist on measuring then shake there heads and say no, never seen that size ever etc. I left M&S sobbing.

Sorry for hijacking OP. Your boobs sound much better than mine tho :)

Sizes are a obsession of men (OOOOooo a double D!!) but in reality if you took my DD/E boobs off me and put them on my friend who has a much bigger rib cage (very good sportswoman - never gets out of breath!) the same boob would be a B cup.

The cup size is all about the difference between ribs and breast - little ribs = large cup size.

If my large ribs friend had DD boobs (she is an a cup) they would be as big as my head!

Spuddy can you have a bra made? I am all :( someone can be made to leave a shop in tears!

Yes-I agree that even with the right size that they can vary from shop to shop. I measure a 34c (allegedly), but it's too tight on me.I am actually a 36c.However one M and S bra I tried was a 34DD and fits perfectly .

My poor 13 DD year old is a nightmare to fit. She is a 30dd size, and only M and S and Debenhams do them. And they cost a bomb, and I know she is going to grow again.

JennerOSity speaketh the sense. I have that same problem with Bravissimo. I have to break in a new bra from them which can take about a week. I stretch sides by the underwire before I put the bra on and then if it still digs in, I use sanitary towels cotton pads cut up to relieve the pressure on my skin and continue stretching the bra out. It's a right pain in the arse, but worth it because then the bra fits me perfectly. I torture new shoes in a similar fashion too.

I completely understand this. There is only one type of crop top bra I will wear (which offers little support tbh) unless I wear a sports bra just for the duration of the activity.

I have been measured up twice,tried on dozens and dozens of bras,and bought quite a lot over the last few years,and I find them all desperately uncomfortable.

I am a quite average size and I wish I could find a 'proper' bra that was comfortable

Spuddy, I was also told that there wasn't a bra in my size and was continually sent home with bras that didn't fit me as 'it's the nearest we'll get'! They usually gave me a 34AA, but I didn't fill the cups and the back was riding up as it was too loose and the straps were too short. Then I was measured by a fab lady in House of Fraser and she put me in about 15 bras until we found the right fit. I know now my size (30C!! Would you believe it!) that actually fits and I have no problems getting bras now. I was about to go to a bra makers or stick with vests, but she was fab. Could you ask friends for a recommendation for bra fitters in your area?

(Sorry for the hijack!)

OP, my original bras were very uncomfortable, but my new ones are so comfy that I forget i am wearing them. No riding up or digging in. They felt much tighter in the beginning, but now I am used to them it feels much better. Definitely try to go for a proper fitting if you can.

The problem is my back/ribcage - i am about 42in (oddly athletic swimmers type figure - lean but broad) and only have an a cup bust (38wks pg and barely fitting in a b cup). Even if i find 42a's (online) the cups are too close together (being broad it is natural that my boobs are further apart - but the bras don't reflect this). So cups are baggy in the centre and boobs leak out over the straps at the side. Also they are so ugly and i want pretty, brightly coloured, sexy, lacy things. Poor DP keeps buying me sexy pants and suspenders but can't get bras to match!

The only thing i have ever been comfy in is my triangle string bikini.

After the baby i am going to get some made. I may try Rigby and Peller.

You need to go in person, it may be a hassle, but worth it for comfort every day - surely?
I'm at 30FF and always go to Bravissimo. Even concentrating now, I can't "feel" my bra. But it's about brand and cut as well as size, hence going in person. I can't wear Panache brand (annoying as most of Bravissimo seems to be Panache!). The size is fine but the underwire comes up higher toward the armpit area, and cuts me. Freya fits fine.

Since bring pregnant and breastfeeding I have been wearing hotmilk bras. They are so comfy I'm thinking of just wearing them all the time even when bf is finished. They are really pretty and look like normal bras except they have no underwire or a soft underwire. My boobs are huge at the moment (32F) but they still feel really supported. I never had a big problem with bras digging at the sides but did used to get a red mark underneath my boobs from the wire in normal bras.

Try Rigby & Peller for fitting then buy the bra they reccomend online - I absolutely LOVE Anita bras as they are incredibly soft fitting but are underwired. You can get them in nursing or normal underwire. They're not pretty but the most comfortable and flattering (they look like non padded t-shirt bras)

Spuddy you sound just like my friend! Maybe I should ask her where she gets hers.