Big boobs & Nursing bra's

[rutlandmummy]

Does any one find that nursing bra's for the larger breasted woman are sadly lacking in support, availability & style?
I am a 36J & mothercare & m&s don't cater for my size bravissimo ar rubbish so it's left down to reliable royce. Any one elses feedback would be appreciated.

Hellymelly, if the style u have is quite low do u not find that u pop out or have the 4 boob problem?

I do the same as Hellymelly - am a 36ff and wear balconette style underwired Freyas. Does make an enormous difference to appearance and self-esteem to have 2 separate (huge) norks rather than one ginormous shelf with Bet Lynch cleavage - I look at least 2 dress sizes smaller with them hoicked up. If they fit well no 4 boob problems either.
FWIW I have worn these from 6 months with no problems. Only ever had mastitis when wearing less supportive 'nursing' bras.
I have tried the sew-on conversion kits but as HM says they really are not needed with a well fitting low cut style.

stainesmassif and rutland - sounds like you've been to a rubbish Bravissimo there! I've been fitted in Nottingham and Milton Keynes and both times they did the fitting by eye using my old bra and a guide and both times the first bra they've brought out has fitted beautifully!

Whereas I've had arguements with the "fitters" in Debenhams when they tried to put me in a 34F and it hurt.

sarah - the lady in debs nearly made me cry by putting me in a 38d - am 34 jj at the mo when fully inflated - they looked so droopy and sad! she couldn't even see the difference to my normal bra!

Anita bras are fantastic underwired nursing bras. You can buy them online at nursingbra.co.uk. The bloke (yes, I found it a little odd at first too!)is so incredibly helpful, I've sent back about 4 and received about 7 from him in order to find the right size and colour.
They have made me ( 36H) feel almost normal again and without any concern about wearing underwires during pregnancy.
I wish I'd found these earlier.

Would you wear a nursing bra if one were available that was actually supportive? ( & attractive)rather than a underwired given the choice?
I have to admit to hate wearing bra's any way. I will look at fig leaves. Sarah i did try the Nottingham branch when i was pregnant & ordered an emily for nursing but it was pants! for non pregnant they are fine though!

I have to admit, I've never tried Bravissimo while pregnant cause we didn't have one nearby when I was expecting DS.

Getting a bit worried now as I will be looking for some maternity/nursing bra's soon!!

Its so good (sort of!) to hear of other women with this problem. It has been my main bugbear being pregnant that I have had to sacrifice wearing nice bras for a variety of rubbish ones. I seem to change them every month! Bravissimo were hopeless, m&s not supportive, hotmilk are great but a little pricey. I'm now in a freya nursing onethat rides up over my tops - god help me in the summer months. I thought life could only get better after ridding myself of the triumph Doreen that I've been wearing since month 6!

love bravissimo, never had a bad fitting there (but i guess it depends on who fits you)

but for maternity wear, I go for hot milk, which is quite sexy and not awful support. available all over the web. according to this letter from miriam stoppard on envie4u's site, certain underwires are fine to wear in pg and while bf.

I'm another huge fan of the Freya range - they can do no wrong in my eyes and they've got a lot on sale right now at www.brastop.com

I only ever bought a couple, Mothercare where no use nor ornament no support at all. The Royce one I got from Debenhams was little better.

I always wear Shock Absorber bras as they have no wires and are made of simple fabrics with no heat sealing (I itch with lacy type fabrics). They are supportive though you dont get the 'boobs squished together look'. I just used to hook the cup up over my boob

Another fan of Freya here too as I am currently a 30G! Sometimes you can get seconds with barely noticable flaws selling on ebay for half the price.

The thing that I find frustrating about M&S is that they don't even stock nursing/maternity bras in a back size smaller than 34 ins.

They go as low as 28ins in some of their other ranges so why do they assume smaller women dont get pregnant?

Agree that the nursingbra.co.uk man is lovely.
I found with the Anita bras that I ended up with proper 50's triangle boobs pointing under my armpits so never really wore them...that might just be me though!

I think it depends on who fits you at Bravissimo.

I was in recently to get some nursing bras (although they only had one style in the shop, and three soft cup bras that weren't nursing bras). There was another woman in the changing rooms at the same time who was getting fitted for a nursing bra too. The woman who was fitting her was really great: full of advice and information. I got a girl who took a quick glance and said, 'oh that's fine'.

As there was no choice whatsoever, I bought the one bra they had and decided to try their website to order different styles (luckily my boobs are small enough to get a choice!). I ordered 2 and the website said they were in stock but that it would take 10 days for delivery (10 days? Do they hand deliver them?). After I ordered I got an email saying that the bras were in stock but had been sent out to shops, so they'd have to retrieve them and they might get sold before that happens. Even if I'd get them, it'd take longer. Eventually a box from Bravissimo arrived in the post on Friday. Inside was one bra (the other one is apparently now out of stock). However, it is not the bra I ordered (and doesn't match the description on the invoice); it's not a nursing bra at all. It took me a while to figure this out as I was confused and wondered if it just had some unorthodox opening system that I was too stupid to notice. So now I have to send the bloody thing back and wait for them to send the right one.

I wouldn't mind so much if they weren't so bloody expensive!

IMO the Anita underwired feeding bra was an absolute godsend.

I gave up with maternity/nursing bras. I was a 34j whilst bfing, and only got lumps after yet another try at wearing them because i had to do them up so tight to get any kind of support!

I was a 36h before pregnancy & now 36L. I hate nit being able to wear an underwired bra. The only half decent nursing bra in my size is a Royce one(Jasmine). It's the best of a few I gave tried, but not comfy to sleep in. I got mine from a website (www.nursingbra-shop), good prices & quick delivery. Bravissimo didn't stock this bra & other websites didn't have much in stock. Mine r too big to hoik out of a normal bra. If I go out without my baby I do tend to wear a normal bra.
Oh I can't wait to b in underwired bras on a permanent basis again!

I couldn't find any breast feeding bras that supported my K boobs so I just bought my favourite Panache bra (in slightly bigger size, I went up in the back and the cup, interestingly) and bought those clippy converter things off ebay, cut the straps and sewed them in. Great job, I was much happier.

Sorry, should have said my Panache underwired bra. Nothing but scaffolding would hold them up :o

Try Celebrar, Panache nursing, HOTmilk and Anita really pretty and REALLY supportive. They are always adding on more bras so have a look. Plus if you are in the Manchester area she runs a free homefitting service. Me and my 34HH's were really happy:-)

Another vote for getting a Royce Jasmine, I went up to a 38L while BFing and it was the only one that gave me good support and fit - not very pretty though!