Wednesday, September 7, 2011

a few of my favorite mommy things: nursing edition

since having charlotte, i've been exploring a whole new market of products...double strollers, nursing supplies, tiny baby clothes, etc.

i've found some things that i love and other things that i don't care for as much, so i thought that i'd share some of my feedback in case any soon-to-be mommies are looking at any of these things.

if you're a nursing momma {or a soon-to-be nursing momma}, you know that it's one of the most time consuming parts of your day, so i guess that's why nursing products were on the top of my mind! here are some of my favorites~


ok, so i know this pillow has an absolutely ridiculous name, but i totally believe it now. this pillow has really become a friend...a very dear one at that due to our endless hours spent together each day :) i use this pillow every-single-time-humanly-possible when nursing charlotte. in fact, when i don't have it, both charlotte and i are uncomfortable and she struggles to get a good feeding. i think we've both been a little spoiled by all this deluxe nursing goodness!!

if you're new to the whole nursing game like i was a few months ago, i highly doubt you will regret investing $50 in this baby. i know a lot of people use a b0ppy pillow for nursing, but this pillow is WAY better {in my opinion}! we have both and i can't stand using the b0ppy now that i have this one. it's more rigid than the b0ppy so it doesn't slump or slide down when you put the weight of your baby on it. it was seriously a miracle worker for me for charlotte's first 6 weeks since i had major carpel tunnel leading up to delivery and for several weeks after. i had a very hard time supporting charlotte's head and body without my hands and arms falling asleep at first, and was so thankful that this pillow could do a lot the work for me.

prior to having charlotte, i freaked out about all the new attire that nursing would require after an intense discussion on various styles of nursing bras, tank tops, and shirts in one of my nursing classes. after many months of wearing maternity clothes, the thought of then having to go into another new wardrobe specifically for nursing kinda scared me. since i like to be prepared and to have a plan, i rushed out to one of our local nursing stores and stocked up on several different styles of nursing bras and nursing tanks so i would be prepared. in fact, i made my husband's jaw drop when he saw how much money i HAD to spend to get the perfect nursing tank top {$50 later...} and name brand nursing bras, as recommended by said nursing store.

unfortunately, after charlotte was born and i finally began nursing, i soon began to see that all the money i spent on the name brand nursing bras and tanks wasn't really worth it :( i found most of the bras and the tank tops to be uncomfortable, and ended up checking out good ole t@rget for some other options. and i'm so happy that i did!

for $16.00 each, i purchased these gilligan o'malley nursing tank tops and am in love! i think i now own 8 of them and seriously wear one EVERY DAY. for the price i paid for one fancy nursing tank, i was able to buy 3 very similar and very comfy nursing tanks from t@rget. i know that every one is different and by no means am i trying to knock you if you love the other brands, but just consider this fair warning if you're about to have a baby and are worried about having all the "right stuff". just because it's more expensive, doesn't mean you'll like it better! don't do like me and spend tons of money on various bras and tanks until you've actually had a chance to try them out :)


{so i feel like this is a little TMI, but i'll share any way... this is my favorite nursing bra. it's nothing fancy but it's comfortable and gets the job done. i also spent $$$ on a couple medela and bravado bras and don't ever wear them!}


i know milk storage bags aren't really an exciting topic of conversation, but i just wanted to point out that these lansinoh bags are typically much cheaper for 50 bags than other brands. usually by about $7 or so! i use them all the time and have found the quality to be just fine, so if you're registering or purchasing storage bags you should give these a whirl.



i don't have any experience with other pumps at this point, but i do love this one. i use it mostly on days when i'm working from the office or on occasion when ryan and i are planning a date night and need to have milk for our sitter. i love this kit because it comes with everything you need. it even has a car adapter in case you are traveling and need to pump in the car.

i know these babies are very pricey and i debated a lot about getting a single pump instead of this double, but i'm glad i opted to go ahead with the double. especially if you're working outside the home, the option to pump in double the amount of time is huge. my work has one small restroom for everyone to share, so it's nice to have a double pump so i'm not tying up the restroom for a half an hour on end.



i think i've mentioned before how much i loved using these bottles with greer when we were traveling, but i'll plug them again since we've also loved using them with charlotte. these bottles look a little old school, but they are seriously great! when we had our foster son, P, we used a fancier bottle and several of them cracked easily from being dropped or even sometimes from washing.

these bottles are obviously easy to clean since you just throw out the liners once you've used them, which is a major bonus when you're sleep deprived and not in the mood to wash bottles! i also love them because you can purchase an adapter for the medela pumps which allows you to pump directly into these bottles if you're not planning on storing the milk. if we're running to the park or the zoo, and i need to prepare a bottle for charley before we go, i use the adapters and have her bottle ready to go without dirtying any extra bottles or wasting a storage bag.

pl@ytex also makes a variety of nipples for these bottles, including a "natural latch" for breastfeeding mothers. i have a lot of friends who've had trouble getting their nursing babies to take a bottle but charlotte never had a problem using these.



alright folks, that's my two cents on nursing products that i love. if you have a suggestion for me, spill it! i'm always open to trying new products, especially if they'll make life easier :)

2 comments:

Brooke said...

thank you x100000 for this post!!! I just bought a gilligan and omalley tank and thought it seemed great. Would you do pre=preggo size? I would do large, based on now...but probably medium normally? What do you think? I might try the pillow. I have a boppy...but i believe you! We need to chat sometime!!

lesli said...

hey B! i can't believe you're still hanging in there {or i guess technically, it's finn still hanging in there :)}. glad you found this info helpful! i would say to consider your pre-pregnancy size when buying the tank tops but just remember that your "sisters" will probably be larger than they were before requiring some extra room :) when you get settled in a room at the hospital, ask if they have one of the nursing pillows there. our hospital had a few and i used one of theirs while in the hospital so mine didn't get contaminated with hospital germs! if they do, you could try it out and see how you like it. so excited for you!!