I’m one of those people who loved being pregnant. I liked dressing the bump and revelled in the beauty of my body as it grew. I loved that my body had a purpose. I felt like a kid again, growing more every month and feeling proud of that growth.
Post-birth, I’m learning to embrace the “fourth trimester” and my post-baby body. I’m breastfeeding, so maternity style has been replaced with breastfeeding style, and I’m two months postpartum now, so I’m trying to dress in a flattering way that doesn’t prompt any questions from strangers wondering if I’m just recently pregnant. I don’t know about other places in the world, but this is a much more common question in Thailand than you’d expect!
We also like to take our daughter out and show her the natural and built environments she was born into. Plus we want to soak up all of our time living here, so I need to be able to feed her on the go. This has led me in search of breastfeeding-friendly wardrobe.
Just like moving houses is a great time to purge your home, a changing body is a great time to rethink and simplify your wardrobe. I loved pulling all my pre-pregnancy clothes out of storage and essentially shopping in my own closet, creating a new wardrobe from my old items, discarding things I didn’t want to wear again, and then getting a few new basics that were a better fit for my new curves.
My closet. I’m a big fan of prints!
Here are some similar items to my new go-to’s:
- A light scarf, always. As an emergency baby blanket, breastfeeding cover, spit-up cloth, and to layer over any leakage on the front of my shirts.
- Vintage leather bag. I’ll pretty much always have a diaper bag with me now, so I just picked a reasonably sized leather bag that I knew would hold up and look awesome.
Crop Top Outfit // Nursing Bra
- Loose crop tops over high waisted skirts.
- Comfy sports bra style nursing bra. I prefer the quick access over the clip down style.
Mid-Waisted Jeans // Loose Jeans // Shorts
- A pair of mid-waisted jeans that fit my body well.
- A pair of jeans that are supposed to fit loosely and look good that way.
- Cozy shorts that look good.
Chambray Shirts // Scoop Neck // Chambray Rolled Sleeve // Polka-Dot Shirt
- Jean button up shirt. Pockets on the front are an added bonus for anti-leak coverage.
- Deep V-necks and scoop necks.
- Anything else with buttons!
- Vintage Eastlands. Or any slip on shoes or sandals so I don’t have to bend down when I’m headed out with baby Jujube in the Ergo.
- A high-waisted bathing suit – a cute suit that tucks my tummy away for a while.
. . . . .
How about you? How do you dress like a normal person while going out in the breastfeeding phase?
wonderful pea / 17279 posts
My post partum body is lumpy, but smaller than I was pre-pregnancy. I was able to rotate between 3-4 nicer shorts and a bunch of nice tops that I hadn’t fit in in a year or two. Under the tops I wore a Bravado shelf nursing bra. The bra doesn’t support me like a regular bra, but it was enough to where I feel fine going out in public.
persimmon / 1445 posts
DD was born in October, so I wore leggings or jeans with boots, a nursing tank, and a cardigan or flowy poncho with a big scarf (aka nursing cover) the ENTIRE winter. When it got a little warmer, I switched to shorts with buttonup shirts or casual wrap dresses, both with toms or sperrys.
blogger / apricot / 275 posts
@Mrs. Lemon-Lime: I can totally relate. I can get into most of my old stuff but some things fit so much differently than before. I’ll look into that bra too!
blogger / cherry / 179 posts
I was totally not prepared for how challenging it is to dress yourself when you’re breastfeeding! I had no problem getting into my old shirts after Mini Pbj was born…except for the fact that my boobs were spilling out everywhere and I had to practically undress myself every two hours to feed her!
I wore my chambray shirt a lot or anything else that had buttons. I also wore lots of loose fitting shirts and things that wouldn’t look stretched out and weird after being lifted up/down several times. I’m interested in looking into some nursing tanks the next time around!