Hospital bag - breast pads

[New2020]

Hi everyone

Planning to pack some breast pads for the hospital bag but as a FTM have no clue how many I'd need or wold get through?!

Any words of wisdom?

It really depends, milk doesn’t come in straight away, usually takes 2-3 days. You might get discharged before then all being well.

I put a whole box in (mainly because It was small and I had room). I didn't actually use them though, my milk didnt come in to the point of leaking until about 4ndays after id given birth. Id still pack them anyway.

Personally I wouldnt bother for your hospital bag but worth investing in some washable ones for when you get home. I found the plastic backing on the disposable ones really uncomfortable on sore nipples.

I think I took around 3 pairs, I had a Csection on Thursday morning, didn't come home until Saturday afternoon. By Saturday morning I was leaking so glad I had atleast one pair with me.

If you don't pack them in your hospital bag just make a little 'in case' bag for the car. Extra bits and bobs incase you have to stay in xx

I packed a few just incase but I didn't need them till my milk came in on day 4 (then I needed them ALOT).

I’d go minimum, and have a spare bag with extras if you end up staying in longer.
Colostrum is not leaky, by the time your milk is in you will more than likely be home.
Congratulations on your little squidge

Same as above, milk didn’t come in until day 3-4.
Would def recommend washable though for at home. I have 12 pairs I think which are just about right for washing and drying if I have an extra leaky day. Still wearing daily at almost 5 months so would have cost a fortune in disposable and they weren’t very comfy.

I've packed 3 pairs in my hospital bag, have a bag of extra stuff in the car incase of needing to stay in longer than 2 or 3 nights though. FTM

I didn't need any in hospital bag (only stayed in 12 hours)

Take reusable ones. Disposable are awful!

Reuseables are great! I wish I had started with disposables though as the first set of reuseables I bought were inadequate for my leakage. They are simple cotton pads (which I can use for other things so not a great waste). The second set are considerably bigger and have a PUL outer layer so that when they are soaked they protect my clothes. Even still I go through 3 pairs in 24h - a pack size of 7+ was a must, I might have gone for a small pack size had I not known how leaky I was in advance.
Other mums in my WhatsApp group only need one set a day so packs of 3 have been fine for them.

My milk came in on day 2, sleeping on my back was a must as the pressure from leaning on them if I was on my side or front caused significant leakage.

Not that many! I got the maternity pad to breast pad ratio completely wrong. Ran out of maternity pads and didn't use the breast pads

Can I ask the PPs, when you say your milk doesn't come in until day 3-4 does that mean you feed on formula & then switch over?

I'm not going to bother this time. I never leaked a single drop with either of my DC, and then had a very very low supply anyway so I had all these pads reminding me how crap my body was!

@lucyFTM baby gets colostrum for the first few days so you don't need formula.

The first milk is collestrum which is a rich energy dense milk full of antibodies. Babies tummys are tiny at this point and can only hold a teaspoon of milk at a time. After a few days you start to produce the milk for feeding. You get a sudden increase in my amount your breast produce which can make the super engorged for a few days.... Be wary about making pricey nursing bra purchases around now within a couple of weeks your supply settles down and your breast won't be as large (for most people).