Breast feeding and being a bridesmaid?

[whizzylala]

It;s some way off but my sister wants to be a bridesmaid at her wedding next year and I will have a 2 month old baby. This is DC3 so I am pretty clued up on breastfeeding and cannot imagine being able to be a bridesmaid in a pretty dress, my other two were still feeding frequently at this stage. Also think I will be feeling frumpy and fat so soon after birth and generally not sure about it all.
Has anyone else had any similar situation and what do you all think, it is a few years since I have been breastfeeding (DD6 DS4) so thought I would see what people at this stage of newborn thought about it.
Thanks!
Whizz

I got married while breastfeeding a six month old baby. I wore a goregous dress.

Feed the baby just before the service. Feed the baby afterwards. Hopefully the baby will sleep some of the time.

It might be worth having a bottle of expressed milk if the baby wants to feed at a really inconvient moment.

I would be more worried about being fat, than the feeding but agree it would be a problem if baby needed feed at bad moment. Also you might need to take dress off/down to access breasts.

Just make sure you have a strapless dress :) And a pashmina.

I did some of my register office bit at my own wedding feeding DD2, who was admittedly older, but it was fine.

It depends on your sister- if she will mind you basically having a baby as one of your bridesmaids accesories and sitting down a lot, go for it! If she is bridezilla, then no.

If either of my sisters had been breastfeeding at my wedding, I would have been more than happy for them to be all tits akimbo, I just wanted them there, but your sister might be different.

Also, what kind of breastfeeder are you? If you are very shy and hate nursing in public, it could be a problem. If you are a "just stick the baby in a matching sling next to a bare boob" type, it'll be fine. Anywhere inbetween depends on loads of factors.

I did this earlier this year with DS who was about 2/3 months old at the time... it was a bit of a nightmare and somehow fine at the same time!

I had agreed before I was pregnant, for my best friend who was adamant she still wanted me bless her! I planned ahead and expressed lots before hand to have 2 bottles ready as the outfit was in NO WAY breastfeeding friendly!

on the downside my boobs were GINORMOUS and trying to escape via any gap available by the evening and we had to leave early!!

got home - got the damned dress off and fed DS.... and had to express after as was STILL full!!!!

I was my sister's bridesmaid with a 6-week-old and managed to wear a strapless dress that I could never have got away with with non-pregnancy/non-lactating boobs. Make the most of it!

I was a bridesmaid for my SIL (and brother, natch) when I had DD who was 10 days old. I was quite fat of course so I got some kind of industrial-strength control pants to help me feel better. I also took note of the time-honoured advice "Nobody will be looking at you anyway"!

Plus DH was there to carry DD in the sling for the ceremony bit. Luckily I fed her beforehand and she stayed asleep the whole time.

Another thing I did was to get my dress altered to have buttons added at the tops of the (quite wide) straps so I could feed her without having to take my entire dress off.

Having said all that I was absolutely exhausted by about 8 pm!

I just did this for my sister when my DD was 2 months old. I have a 2 year old too - it was a busy day! DD went with me everywhere; DH looked after her during the actual ceremony and I fed her as close to that as possible (ie just before we left to travel there from where we were getting ready - she came in the car with the bridesmaids in her car seat), so that went fine. Then after the ceremony the only thing I didn't get quite right was that she ended up needing to be fed just as the photographer wanted to do all the family photos so me and DH had to do our best with our 2 year old throwing a tantrum and the baby screaming. Photos didn't come out too bad! - but that was stressful. Both of us bridesmaids wore pashminas so it was easy to cover up while feeding (I fed during the reception too but we were also staying at the venue so there was a place to sneak off to to feed, which helped). My lovely sister was very kind to me about my baby belly and we chose dresses based on what I would be able to bf in and what would be most flattering. I wasn't looking too bad by then so it was OK. And I had an EMCS too so had been worried about how well I would get around - but I was OK - even managed the hen do (the day time bit) when DD was 3 weeks. Hopefully you'll be fine - just bear in mind the photo thing - or any other thing where you'll be expected to be involved at a specific time - and try and feed in advance. I covered myself in muslins while feeding as much as possible to try and avoid milky splotches and patches - was OK and DD is not a tidy feeder. Good luck!

HMMMM maybe it is not impossible. If the baby was going to be 6 months I would not hesitiate, just at 2 months there are still leaky boobs to contend with and lack of routine. Love the idea of adding buttons to strap to actually make wearing a dress feasable.
My sister will want me to be comfortable, and is happy to choose a dress that will make it work for me. Probably not waving boobs around in church as she and her friends are not quite at that stage in their lives yet but no problems with feeding at the wedding I have been told there is a room I can feed in so guessing that is what will seem most appropriate on the day.
I think if it was just the chirch it would be fine, thae fact is as zoonose says there is the rest of the day to consider, we are not going to spend lots of money on a dress for me to change after ceremony / photos into something more use friendly!
Ph I don't know, part of me just thinks don't put yourself through it, I would probably enjoy the day mnore and be lwess stressed if I wasn't on show. (Appreciate no one will be looking at me though!)