After deciding that breastfeeding is the way to go, many women find themselves asking one big anxiety provoking question. How do I breastfeed in public? Here at Birth Boot Camp, we feel that how and when a woman chooses to feed her child is entirely up to her. That being said, I can totally remember sitting in the middle of Target with a screaming baby and leaking breasts, knowing what I had to do to make the madness stop and still feeling uncomfortable feeding my baby.
I got over that discomfort fairly quick and a big reason why is thanks to my nursing wardrobe! Having the right clothes makes everyone feel better, right? Of course, that’s right! And now-a-days there are so many more options for nursing mothers! We have come a long way from the maternity clothes of the 80’s where we were trying to hide our bodies, to the beautiful dresses of today where we proudly show off our bellies! And now we also have cute and functional nursing tops and dresses as well! Here are a few examples of darling outfits and how to recreate the look without having to completely redo your wardrobe.
Nursing Clothes Necessities
There are some absolute must haves when creating a cute nursing mother look, but lucky for us you might already have most of them.
- Tank tops (bonus points for nursing tanks, but regular tanks work just fine)
- Sports bra, the bigger the better
- V-neck tops/dresses (bonus points if it’s a wrap dress)
- Cardigans
Note: all these items should be nice and stretchy. The absolute last thing that you want to do when you’re nursing is start a fight with the stiff and unyielding neckline of some random shirt.
The Double Shirt
One of the most popular nursing shirt options is what I like to call the double shirt. Normally this looks like a normal V-neck shirt worn over a second shirt. In reality it’s just a second piece of fabric sewn across the neckline that you pull up when it’s time to nurse. These can run anywhere from $10-$40. A great way to duplicate this look is actually just wearing two shirts. You put a tank top (or sports bra) on under a V-neck shirt. When it’s time to nurse, top shirt goes up-bottom shirt goes down and bam! You’re done.
The Wrap Dress
This is, you guessed it, a wrap dress. Get a good dress made of stretchy fabric (like this one from Latched Mama), pair it with a good sports bra. Next time baby needs to feed, pull the neckline down-pull the bra up-bam! Happy hungry baby.
The Jacket Method
There are plenty of nursing tops with a cardigan sewn on to the back of it. Or Latched Mama has an excellent cardigan that converts into a nursing cover for $39. The idea behind this is it gives you something to help you cover up with. To duplicate this look just get a cute cardigan and one of your nursing tanks. Unhook the nursing tank-pull the jacket across you until you’re comfortable-BAM! You’re nursing.
There are tons of options now days when it comes to nursing clothes. There are also tons of ways to use your existing clothes to help you nurse comfortably! I personally did a combination of both buying new nursing specific clothes and repurposing my old clothes to better fit my new life. Below are some links to some excellent stores with loads of cute clothing options. You figure out what works best for you. There will be absolutely no judgment from me.
