nursing gear

I know this post won't help a lot of you out there in blogland, but maybe just a few of you will find it worthwhile to read. At the end of my pregnancy, one of the things on my To-Do list was to find good nursing apparel because I knew I didn't want to shop for it after baby Truman arrived. Lucky for me, Hannah sent me a great email with links to good choices that worked for her and I totally went off of that for the most part. I ended up packing a few bras and a tank along with some nursing tops in my hospital bag to use right after delivery and I was glad I did. I wouldn't have been comfortable in my maternity clothes but regular clothes weren't the answer either. So here is what I have so far.

First come my tank tops. I love layering clothes anyway so these are totally my style. I like having my tummy covered up, too, since it's not quite back to it's former state of being yet.

This tank from Target is a little scary when you pull down the outer layer:) But for $17 I like it well enough. Try not to scream at this picture...



My big splurge was this nursing tank from Pea in the Pod, which was $38 but worth every penny.
I love it because it's stretchy and sucks in the tummy a bit, has removable formed cups to hide nippage, and straps that can be arranged into different styles depending on your outfit. I wish I had 4 more of them.


Onto the bras!!

This one was another splurge from Pea in the Pod at $32. I have it in the nude color and it's super soft.


And then I bought two of these cheaper bras from Motherhood Maternity, only $15 each. I have one in black and one in white.
For nursing tops I had to get a little creative because I found a lot of the stuff out there to be completely hideous. When adjusting to your postpartum body, you want to feel as pretty as possible and not like a giant blob in ugly clothes, you know? Maternity tops look frumpy but form-fitting regular tops aren't the answer, either. I really like being able to pull my boob out from the top of shirts instead of lifting up the whole thing because it's easier and then you don't have to stare down at your belly while nursing, either. I'm not to the point where I like wearing a regular top for nursing just because of the extra step of pulling it up to my chin...call me lazy, I guess but when you nurse 12 times a day it's all about ease! Here is what works for me:

This one came highly recommended by Hannah and I just wish there were more colors to choose from because I like it so much. It's from Gap and is now on sale, of course, but I think I paid $19 for it?
Note that it's not a maternity shirt, and not a 'nursing' top but it just has a lower V-neck with buttons that allow for easy boob access. This is KEY when looking for nursing tops, in my opinion. I got it in a size bigger than I normally would just to let the tummy breathe a bit and I am glad I did but probably could have just gotten my usual size and it would have been fine since it's not a tight fitting shirt anyway.

Going with this theme of non-maternity, non-nursing, but easy access, I found this little bugger in size TALL at Gap. Whoo hoo for the tall ladies of the world!
It was $15 and I love how lightweight it is. Again, I probably could have gotten my regular size but went one size up just in case. I might order a few more of these now that I'm looking at it...

My favorite top is probably this one, which is also in a size TALL and it's from Old Navy. For just $20 you can't beat it and of course, it just has those buttons which makes it a 'nursing top' for me:)

My least favorite top is this one from Old Navy, a true 'nursing top' for $15. It's just way too big for me around the tummy and makes me feel too frumpy. Maybe with a smaller size I'd like it more but it's just sort of odd on me.

I also wear my fave pre-pregnancy zip up hoodies over a bra or tank and then just zip it down for boobie time. It's so nice to be able to zip up my hoodies again!

So that's that. Hope it helped someone out there!