Are all maternity bras also breast feeding bras?

[Reiltin]

Hi!
This may seem like an odd question but are maternity bras & breast feeding bras the same thing? There didn't seem to be any maternity-specific ones in m&s. I don't want to buy the wrong thing. So confused - help!!!

Breast feeding bras need to be able to be unclipped at the hook part at the front so you can discretely breast feed. Maternity ones won't. Although you could use a breast feeding bra as a maternity bra. Think I bought maternity ones in mother care and bought completely the wrong size so doubt they did much for me .

No. Nursing bras allow you to drop the cup down, usually with a clip at the top. (You can get the clips separately to turn regular bras into nursing bras if you want...)
Maternity bras are usually just soft, non-wired, regular bras.

No. Maternity bras are just soft cup with no underwiring. Nursing bras are the ones that unclip for breastfeeding. I struggled to find nice bras of either style and during pregnancy and bfing I was 5 different bra sizes, so I bought some cheap old lady bras in M&S while pg but then when I was bfing I was a 32H so even Mothercare didn't go that big! Had to buy Royce which were really pricey! HTH

Your size is likely to be different between pg and bfing though - both around the ribcage and in the cup - so you'll probably have to get more later on... I found M&S / Mothercare not much good, did better with Bravado.

No - at least they weren't when I bought some for ds1 about 8 years ago. I got maternity bras from m&s and they weren't breastfeeding ones - ended up having to buy them separately later.

Have subsequently discovered that some are marketed as both.

I think that if you have a choice of either or then go for bf ones as you will be able to use them afterwards as well. (even if you need some in a different size at least you'll have the option!).

Second time around I found that debenhams had a much better choice than m&s - and shock horror they had some in colours! Patterns! Pretty! Unlike the fairly industrial black and White that m&s had (they may have got a bit better since then).

See, that's exactly what I thought but I got very confused in m&s when all the maternity bras were suitable for breast feeding. Maybe a trip to a different shop is in order!

Have a look at mothercare online they describe it pretty well

Debenhams do some really nice maternity t shirt bra's. www.debenhams.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/prod_10701_10001_152010300960_-1

They always seem to have 20% offers on or sales and I found them to be very good value and comfortable. I did require to buy extra bra fasteners/extenders but as I have hardly gone up in bra sizes I presume I can wear these after bub.

I couldnt stand not wearing supportive structured bra's and hated the M&S ones.