Alternatives to 'nursing' clothes?

[BexusSugarush]

Nursing clothes are ludicrously overpriced from most stores. Does anyone have any suggestions to alternatives that will still keep me relatively covered up while feeding baby?

I've considered baggy button-down blouses, as they can be worn during pregnancy, nursing and afterwards, but any and all suggestions are welcome :)

strappy top underneath and whatever you can pull up on top. Pull that one up, strappy one down and voila - you will remain covered and no need for any special nursing clothes.

Stretchy vest under a top. Top up, vest down. All covered! You can also chop some to just under your boobs in length and wear under a wrap dress then dress to side, chopped off top up.

I just used to wear tops, dresses that were stretchy and I could pull the neckline down enough to pop out a boob or slide off the strap if it was a vest style top. I found I was more discreet when I wasn't trying if that makes sense.

A baggy top over a vest is fine but personally I had three "proper" nursing tops which I used when I was feeling awkward or wanted to be less obvious. I had a frugi tunic that covered my tummy in the first couple of months which I loved and two jojo tops - a Breton and s smart black wrap top that could be dressed up. All three gave me extra confidence when required.

Whatever top you wear, wear a vest top underneath, then you can pull the first top up and the vest top down, nice and easy.

I never had any specialist nursing clothes. I always pulled my top up rather than buttoning /pulling down, and if you are wearing a cardigan, or baby is draped in a blanket/muslin, no-one can see anything. Good luck with it all :)

X post with everyone else!

Also depends on your shape. I have big boobs and fed my son low down on my lap. I preferred lift up tops and felt naked in pull down tops. I know other people who preferred opposite.

Yep, I'm with the vest-down-top-up gang!

I'm not a very feminine type either, so managed this in my manky t-shirts! Your vests aren't quite the same after a few months though - Primark cheapies are definitely needed!

I find I have to get more boob out if I'm wearing a proper nursing top. Wear a vest underneath everyday, I find the marks 2 for £8 best, nice quality and stretchy knicker elastic type straps so they don't get all baggy even though your pulling them down several times a day (well the ones from dd1bjust started to stretch but have been used for 3.5 years!). I do however have a couple of nursing dresses (frugi + red herring) because you can't really pull your dress up to feed!

Gap do long sleeved maternity t'shirts the v necks are great for pulling down to bf in.Still going strong dtd's are 8mo tomorrow. I got them really cheap in the cyber monday sale which is coming up again soon. A lightweight pashmina is good for a coverup.

Weird spammer in the ranks :/ reported

I to am with the vest down top up brigade :)

I wear a vest top under everything. Vest top pulls down, other top pulls up, nice and discreet and a lot cheaper. Nursing bras I got in the figleaves sale, saved me a fair bit of money :)

Just normal loose-fitting tops for me - I felt more covered-up in those than I did in nursing tops, which show more boob IME. I went back to work at 4 months but fed DS to a year,so got used to feeding him in lots of smart "work" tops - silky t shirts etc. Never anything with buttons on.

If you're on Facebook look for a group called "can I breastfeed it it?", people share pics of bf friendly tops and dresses from non maternity and nursing ranges in normal clothes shops. IMO nursing wear is overpriced and usually not very flattering.

I could never get the vest-down top-up approach to work even thought everyone on MN seems to rave about it.

I'm relatively small of boob, even when bfing, and found that the pulled-down vest was continuously riding up against baby's chin and getting in his mouth if he shifted his latch. A bigger boob might have anchored the vest neckline in the crease, iyswim, but I'm not shaped that way... In to end, I mostly used a bfing bra with a Brest Vest to keep torso warm, and my usual tops, jumpers, etc. on top that I could just pull up.

Experiment until you find something that works! It can be hard to predict in advance

geekamania I generally slide the strap down my arm so that the vest top doesn't ride up. Or buy ones with adjustable straps like the primark ones. I wear them low, so they don't cover my bra much but doesn't matter as they are underneath another top :) .

A friend of mine bought ordinary vest tops, cut them where the strap met the top of the top and attached a presstud. It works best with the thinner strapped tops and, if you use a black vest top, it us barely noticeable. She wore a card or normal top over the top.

I always feel much less exposed with top-up-vest-down than I do if I wear something that buttons down the front. I suppose because I still have something across the top of my chest. It's warmer too!