BF and changing bra sizes

[orchidee]

I have a 4wo baby so am still relatively new to bf. My bra size has changed from pre-pg to pg to bf (back to pre-pg back size, up another cup size). Beginner's question but as the baby grows each feed will.provide more milk at a time so will.my bra size go up again? I.e. if I'm buying more nursing bras should I allow some growing room? Or try them on on / get measured just before a feed so I'm at max capacity?

I was fitted at mothercare when my milk came in. So my breast was at it's largest. Now at 10wo it has gone in size but the bras are still ok. I reckon I will just get new ones if I go down in size more.

The amount of milk the baby takes tends to remain quite stable rather than increasing, and milk is made during the feed rather than all being held in the breast. Lots of women go down a cup size once their supply settles down - I think at about 4 months I got some smaller bras.

agree with Rita, I'd expect your cup size to go down once things seatle. By six months I was back to pre pregnacy size although still feeding.

That's great news- I thought they'd continue to get bigger (already uncomfortable and need a bra 24 hours a day)

orchidee, I've both some sleep bras from mothercare too. They are brilliant as I need to wear breast pads in my sleep.

i was 30E pre pregnancy went up to 32FF at term. Was a 30GG (hideous) for a couple of weeks then was 30F/FF until DD stopped feeding when I have slowly got back to 30E again

I went from D to G in pregnancy, post labour nothing fitted for a week or two, then settled at an i and 4 months later still huge this size.

I have a couple of the mothercare sleep bras that are like vest tops and hate them as pads don't stay in place. M&S have some nice soft wireless feeding bras that are fab for nights. Needless to say, I wear wired feeding bras durning the day.

Thanks everyone for your info and advice. It's an odd time just now, loss of bump, rib cage contracting back to pre-pg size, milk coming in.... it's very useful to hear how others' sizes have changed, something I hadn't seen in any of the BF advice.

Tarlia, where did you get your wired feeding bras?

The amount of breastmilk a baby takes doesn't vary much from 1-6 months so you should now be at the level you'll be until weaning.

My cup size hasn't changed since my milk came in, but my rib size dropped (which meant I actually went up a cup size to get the same size cups on a smaller back size).

Immediately after the birth I went up an extra cup size, then when the milk came in I increased another cup size, to 5 sizes bigger than pre-pregnancy, but after the first week I dropped 1 cup size, then another 2 a couple of months in. I didn't get back to pre-pregnancy size till just recently though - and LO is 8.5 months old! The size of the boobs is nothing to do with how much milk they produce - it's hormone levels that cause the increase and then decrease in size. I agree that it's often around weaning time when breast size settles to pre-pregnancy levels because you'll be decreasing the amount and frequency of feeds, so your hormones will change then.

Sarah I'm not in the UK, wired are pretty much standard here in Scandinavia.

Oopps, posted too soon. Can't you get wired in the UK?

Not easily. Apparently you shouldn't wear wired bras when PG or when BFing as the wires could dig in and damage milk supply or something. I wore wired bras all through my PG - I think as long as they fit properly there's no problem. I HATE wearing unwired bras, my 36Es needs a bit bit more support!

Yeah, but as you said, so long as properly fitting it's fine. I really do not have supply issues, baby will tell you that, poor thing is often squirted in the eye . Good luck finding wired bras in the UK x