Nursing Bra
The Importance of a Good Bra
For many women, their breasts are the first indicator that they might be expecting. Usually one of your first signs of pregnancy is nipple soreness and breast growth. The reason is because the hormones your body will secrete early on in your pregnancy are starting to prepare you to be able to feed your baby once it is born. Put simply, your body is choosing to breast feed, whether you are or not.
Some women find this perk (no pun intended!) one of the best parts of their new pregnancy body, while others wonder will their breasts ever stop growing?! Regardless of the amount of breast growth you experience during pregnancy, you will be able to make milk and nourish your baby.
Most of your breast growth will occur in the first trimester (the 1st 12 weeks) but some moms continue to have breast growth up until 20 weeks. After 20 weeks, all that is really growing is your rib cage from your belly expanding!
Most advice you read will encourage you to wait until the very end of your pregnancy or even after delivery to get your nursing bras. This is unnecessary and usually too late! Trust me the last thing you will want to be doing your first week home with your newborn and your engorged leaking breasts is try on bras! Remember, whether you decide to breast feed or not your milk is coming in and you will need these bras for engorgement.
Did you know, that some statistics report that up to 90% of all women are wearing the wrong size bra! I fit women for maternity/nursing bras all day, and I would agree that 80-90% of the women that come to me for fittings are not wearing the right size!
During pregnancy and nursing is the most important time in your life to have a properly fit bra. Here's why:
There are ligaments in your chest wall that support your breasts, and when your breasts are bigger and heavier then ever, those ligaments will stretch without the proper support. You may not notice the stretch because while you are pregnant and nursing, your breasts look good no matter what you do! It's not until after it's all done that you will notice the damage that is done! This is one thing not to skimp on! Not all bra fitting boutiques are the same, so find one that specializes in fitting bras for pregnancy and breastfeeding. It will be worth the investment. Plastic surgery will cost you much more down the road!
Lastly and most importantly, wearing the wrong size bra or wired bras while breastfeeding can put pressure on your breast tissue and cause problems such as plugged ducts and mastitis (a breast infection). This can make you very sick. This is totally unnecessary and not worth it. There are many extremely supportive (and even sexy!) bras on the market, and with the right fit you will never want to go back to your underwire bras again!