Read Milk and Love, a blog post about milk sisters.
See the new breastfeeding campaign in Britain, designed by art students. (Read more about the campaign and art exhibition here). You can see lots more pro-breastfeeding posters from the exhibition at Best Beginnings.
One of the posters, pictured below, mentioned turning regular bras into nursing bras. Has anyone come across a tutorial for this? If not, I might work on one...it took me a ridiculously long time to find a nursing bra that fit right. I must have ordered and then mailed back about 30 different nursing bras in the search for the perfect one (which, ironically, I found for $8 at Wal-Mart after I had given up all hope). Okay, it wasn't 100% perfect--I was looking for a white bra and preferred smooth fabric over lace, whereas the bra I found was nude colored and had lace--but it fit perfectly in all directions, was easy to open and close with one hand, and the straps didn't slip off my shoulders. Still, I'd rather just pop into my local department store, buy a few well-fitting underwire bras, and convert them to nursing bras.
Rixa,
ReplyDeleteJust FYI, the Bornfree Forums link is not the correct link, the server has changed. The correct link is http://www.unassistedchildbirth.com/phoenix/index.php
Would you please change it?
Thanks!
So, my big question is, who is this "art" aimed at? If it's aimed at women who would like to breastfeed but feel self-conscious about any saggy body parts or who are concerned about modesty and whether it's possible to nurse in public without using one of those awful smock/tent thingies, then I think it fails horribly.
ReplyDeleteI know some people think we should proudly bare all and that breastfeeding is all sexual and earthy anyway, but this imagery is too erotic, imho, to do any good as a PSA supporting public breastfeeding. Rather, I could see it being fodder for those who would rather not have breasts exposed in public.
Art/propoganda/whathaveyou are tricky. I don't think this poster(and wow -- even more so the other three in that specific collection) will do anything good to support a cause I believe in 100%.
Breastfeeding and modesty are not mutually exclusive. I'll breastfeed anytime, anywhere, but I won't be showing this much skin. (Not least because I have a body that actually HAS given birth, which I would be extremely surprised to hear that this model had given birth to a baby as young as the one she's posing with. NO FREAKIN' WAY!)
I don't know much about converting regular bras to nursing bras, but I can say that if someone is prone to plugged ducts they'll want to avoid underwire. In that case you need to go looking for nursing bras again because there isn't a lot out there that's non-underwire - most of it is nursing.
ReplyDeleteI will say after working as a nursing bra fitter full-time for 9 months (really!), the main challenge to finding a good bra is getting properly fitted. Many women were not fitted in the first place (don't know their real size even before pregnancy), and grow 2-4 cup sizes or more from pre-pregnancy to full-on nursing. If you were a C cup before you got pregnant, you will almost certainly be a DD at MINIMUM! Most women find this hard to believe, and even if they're willing to believe it, Wal-Mart's not going to sell them an F, G, or H cup! (And if those sizes sound crazy, I fit women in those sizes all day, every day). So if you're able to convert a regular bra, get it fit at a professional, old-school lingerie store (that would not include Victoria's Secret!) for correct sizing.
I came across this link awhile back (I made one of her linked carrier patterns, but not the bra conversion) -
ReplyDeletehttp://www.sleepingbaby.net/jan/Baby/braconvert.html
Cross-nursing is something I had never thought about, but it really makes sense! The comments on the ABC article site are quite interesting in that it's amazing to see how widespread cross-nursing really is and also to see the reactions of people who think it's "icky."
ReplyDeleteIt also made me remember the ending of /The Grapes of Wrath/ from high school lit class!!
I think it wouldn't be that hard to cut the straps on a regular bra, attach some snaps or hook and eye closures to each end (just get bras with reasonably wide straps), and viola, you have a nursing bra...
ReplyDeleteI love, love, loved the entries posted on the getbritainbreastfeeding site. I agree that the winner is a little edgy, but their target audience is very young mothers, so maybe it will work for that? I hope they offer the others as posters because they hit some rather important points with style.
ReplyDeleteAnd as for bras, try finding a 38F that doesn't point straight out like Madonna's cone-bra and doesn't look silly on a 5'1" frame. THEN, try to find a nursing bra in said size that doesn't cut off the circulation of the breast or require a crane to re-connect the cup! lol I wish I had a size that allowed considering converting a regular bra to a nursing bra.... I wish I could get away with no bra at all!
The link to ABC's cross nursing story has been taken down; what did it say?
ElementalMom's post was great. Thanks, Rixa, love your blog.
All mine are the cheap Wal-Mart bras that I bought when I was pregnant with my first. Isn't it crazy that those seem to fit and work so well?
ReplyDelete