How many nursing pads are needed!?

[Gabby57]

Would greatly appreciate if anyone could provide insight as to (rough estimate of course) how many nursing pads a woman may use if planning to nurse for 6 months?

Have the opportunity to buy in bulk in the States very cheaply but have no idea how many boxes to bring back!

Would appreciate any advice. Thanks

You might not need any - I bought a mahoosive supply in readiness for my first baby, I bf for 9 months and am now feeding my second and I have only used about 8 of the massive, massive box...

Buy reuseable ones!
I would have needed a breast pad mountain by now otherwise!! (DS 4 months) I have very leaky breasts. Seriously I was going through a box of 30 in a couple of days. I have 28 reusable ones (I wear 2 at a time - on each boob)

The large bamboo ones by motherease are the best. you can get them from lizziesnappies website amongst others.

You just wont know how much your boobs will leak until you start.

Good luck!

Impossible to know! You might leak loads and get through about 500 in 6 months like I did with DS1, or you might not leak at all like a friend of mine. Washable breast pads are great if you only leak a little bit but there is no way I could have used them with my first son as they have no plastic backing and I just leaked too much. I actually used to collect the milk that leaked when I was at home and freeze it then I had no need to express if I needed to leave DS1!

I found that the washable ones I tried were like chocolate teapot (they leaked). Although I only bought the mothercare and emma jane ones so maybe I made bad choices?

I generally use 4 reuseable ones per 24 hours, ie change them morning and night - 2 per day and 2 per night (DS2 now 12 weeks) although more at the start (maybe 8 per day?) so maybe buy:

6 x 7 x 6 for first six weeks - 252
4 x 7 x 20 for remainer of time - 560

I bought a huge box in preparation for DS being born. I read the 'essentials' list and took it as gospel....

I've never leaked more than about a teaspoonful amount the whole time DS has been alive (19 weeks) and I'm breastfeeding him.

Bit of a waste of money to me, but I've had friends say they leaked all the time and couldn't have left the house without their breastpads.

I was no real help there, but just letting you know that not everyone leaks.

I wouldn't buy in bulk before you have your LO. You may not like the ones you buy when you start using them. I tried out several before settling on the Tommee Tippee ones.

Your leakage may be variable anyway. I leaked loads for the first six weeks with DS and then hardly anything. With DD I hardly leaked at all. Both were chubby contented babies.

I leaked til about 10 months, lots at first. But my SIL never needed pads, BF til 8/9 months with no leaks. So I wouldn't buy too many, unless you want to flog any spares on ebay afterwards.

I've been feeding dd for 15 weeks and never used a single one. I've never leaked a drop. I've never felt letdown or got really engorged or anything like that. I only know I've got milk because she's growing well (I imagine she'd be dead by now if no milk was there)

Bear in mind that bfing can make your nipples very sensitive and the pads are nice and soft and stop the bra rubbing against them. My DS is 5 months and I'm still feeding and wearing pads every day for this reason - I've never really leaked, apart from the early weeks.

I used about 60 pads but stopped leaking milk when my baby was about 12 weeks old so dont need them any more. I suppose everyone will be different though.