Thursday, August 14, 2008

Mama, Get You a Belly Band. Or Many!

Seriously, all of you lovely girls who are pregnant now -- and there are many of you -- I have a word to share with you.

COM - FORT.

More specifically, comfort in the boobage area.

Oh yeah.

Peanut's a week old today, and I've spent this past 7 days in and out of maternity bras and maternity tanks of every description and some of them are pretty good and some of them I will NEVER EVER WEAR AGAIN BECAUSE OH.MY.GOSH the misery and brow-pretzeling irritation!

Yesterday afternoon during a particularly lengthy Mr. Peabody nap, I took a shower and then dug through my vast collection of foundational undergarments to find one to stuff my GIGANTICALLY HUGE AND VERY UNCOMFORTABLY FULL (Can I get a heel-click on that one!?) girls into. I found one that's a nice large size and choked myself into it.

And then I died.

The end.

No, not really. BUT. It WAS awful. And no matter what I put on, it was still awful, and I have a LOT of choices and there were bras flyin' out drawers, hangin' off the ceiling fan, littering the floor - it looked like a maternity ward gone brothel in my bedroom and 20 minutes later I was still nekkid from the waist up and truly out of ideas.

UNTIL.

I spied my trusty belly band (like a Bella Band, but I bought the store-brand one from Motherhood Maternity).

And I put it on like a tube top. And stuck breastpads on the inside. And AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! Cue the angels!

Now it's not the most supportive of the undergarments, so you wouldn't want to wear it under your best tight sweater for a romp through the center of town, but under a t-shirt just knockin' around home until your girls figure out the proper ebb and flow of milk for your little nursling, a belly-band-gone-north works wonders. I wore mine under my PJs last night, too, and while it did slip a little as I slept (yes, I said SLEPT!), it was comfortable and definitely supportive enough for overnight, plus it was easy to just pull down for Peanut's easy access to his milky sources and then back up when he was ALL DONE!

Comfort, light support, easy access. Doesn't get mooch better'n that, y'all.

Go pick one up if you don't have one. If you're an ample girl upstairs, get a big one (you can probably even try them on in the store. Figure on getting one that fits comfortably to very slightly loosely now - that should house you quite harmoniously once you join me among the ranks of the Moo-mies.

XOXO.

15 comments:

T with Honey said...

You're getting sleep? At night? That's awesome!!

And I would love to send you my favorite nursing shirt but it is long sleeved since I had a winter baby. It is this soft, soft cotton in black and white that reads "Got Milk!"

I loved the incredulous stares I got walking around in that thing outside the house... and I wasn't even nursing at the time. I'm too private and always tried to find some corner or dressing room or Babys R Us to hide in when feeding time came around.

Kelly @ Love Well said...

All hail the belly bands!

I, too, found them the greatest pregnancy invention since Old Navy started carrying maternity clothes. LOVED THEM! Recommend them to everyone. And now I've got a new use for them.

Anonymous said...

I wish I had read this post before I had my kids!

Steph at Problem Solvin' Mom said...

Hey, you must be getting at least a little sleep to come up with such a great idea!! I think I lived in my motherhood sleep bras for several weeks before moving to anything else. Also, I used a hand pump when things got a little too "full".

I still have mine from sweetpea, I will be sure to keep it in hopes I'll be able to try this out!

Stephanie Wilson she/her @babysteph said...

Oh, I have a few! I will use this tip!

Steph

SimplyAmusingDesigns.com said...

"Hi, Peanut!"

Gosh...had I only known about the belly bands when I was nursing. My nights would have been so much better - I slept in maternity bras.

At least you're getting some sleep - that's a celebration in and of itself! woo hoo! :)

Lisa said...

oh my, I think I love you. My babe is 4 months and I'm so sick of wearing maternity bras to bed. I'd had the idea of a tube top, but didn't want to spend money on one. It never occurred to me to try the band.

I could kiss you.

Lerin said...

I'm going to remember that for next time! I never had a Belly Band, but you are not the first person I've heard sing their praises. :)

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the tip. I bought some belly bands with this baby (due in November), and I haven't even used them yet!

Emily

Trena said...

Oh! I just called a girlfriend to ask about nursing bras and was so confused. Never thought about pulling out my bella bands. Thanks!

Anonymous said...

Oh I love it! I'll keep that in my back pocket as I may need it in the future :-)

Carrie said...

Love the 'moo-mie' comment! :) I'm nursing my 8 month old and I thought I would look forward to being able to eat spicy food & caffeine the most once he's weaned, but now that it's been 8 months, I'm looking forward to wearing a REAL BRA again! The belly band idea is a great one- thanks for sharing so, um, honestly. :)

Jennifer said...

Hi, I stumbled across the blog just a few weeks ago and as a maybe-soon-to-be aspiring med student with interests in OB/GYN I loved all your honest descriptions. I was backtracking through your posts from the beginning when I found this and wanted to send it back to you: "I was telling Al last night that THIS time, this time after the baby arrives I AM going to take it easy for a few weeks. I AM. You ladies need to make sure I do, if you can. I was so ridiculous last time and I just wasted myself and those precious precious first few days with Bean by trying to do everything - to get things "back to normal" for the household and life well before anyone would have remotely expected it, well before it was time, really. And I paid for that in so many ways with Bean. Obviously we're both fine in the end, but I wish I could go back now and redo her first weeks in a softer, cozier, more mother-child centered way. There is a lot of advice I know I'll ignore this time around."
howtosavethekosmos.wordpress.com

Tiffanie Lloyd said...

Good to know!

Hope I'm sleeping at one week too!

Binary Blonde said...

Oh my gosh. Thank you. I will totally get a belly band, as I had seriously problems with my girls for the first trimester (serious OUCH!) and still have yet to find a bra that I feel totally comfortable in, so.... I'm assuming that my girls filled to the brim with nourishing milk and significantly larger are going to be just as uncomfortable.

So, thank you for the advice. I am totally taking it and running with it. :)

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