Bravado! Designs Seamless Nursing Bra
If you are about to give birth and want to be set up properly into parenthood, chances are you are looking for the best nursing bra. For those who don’t know, a nursing bra is a specialized bra for women who are breastfeeding and lactating. It allows you to comfortably breastfeed without the need to remove the bra since the flaps of the bra can be opened to expose your nipples to your baby. There is normally some kind of flap or clasp that holds the flap closed. When you go through your pregnancy, your breast begins to prepare for lactation and they will grow in size.
Most changes will happen to your breasts within the first four months of gestation and so around 4 months is a good time to start looking for a nursing bra. Don’t get nursing bras confused with maternity bras, which is very closely related. Maternity bras are designed with soft cotton lining to support your larger breast comfortably and have wider adjustable strap with extra hooks to adjust the size of them throughout your pregnancy. Meanwhile, nursing bras are slightly different from maternity bras in that they panels that can be removed to allowed for easy breastfeeding. Nursing bras also allow for room for your breast to grow. It is important to wear nursing bras that fit well and has room to expand.
If the bra fits too tight, the milk supply can be reduced and you may even experience pain, infection, or plugged milk ducts. During nursing and breastfeeding, your breast size will change considerably so you may have to buy additional nursing bras with different sizes. Nursing bras vary in design and all have different underwire, softcups, type of flaps, materials, and different comfort levels. It is important to take all these factors into consideration when searching for the best nursing bras.
Best Nursing Bras Reviews
- Bravado! Designs Maternity Body Silk Seamless Nursing Bra (Top Pick)
- Gratlin Women’s Lightly Padded Wirefree Nursing Bra
- Motherhood Full Coverage Underwire Nursing Bra
Bravado! Designs Maternity Body Silk Seamless Nursing Bra
If you want the best nursing bra that is both wireless and non-padded/seamless, the Bravado Designs is the right one for you. Bravado Designs is one of the first companies that started the seamless nursing bra trend. It is incredibly soft and stretchy because it is a one piece bra that is completely seamless. If you are curious, it is made of nylon, spandex, and elastane. It is the ultimate in comfort and hugs the body, but not in an uncomfortable tight way. It has great shape and great separation for breasts of all types and sizes.
There is not too much compression, so your milk flow won’t decrease. The Bravado Designs includes removable foam inserts that can create more support and to prevent your nipples from showing. This bra is designed for women of all sizes and in particular it cover women of plus sizes. It has wider straps and inner slings to create more support as well as strong/taller side and back panels. This bra has managed to achieve the impossible, which is to make a bra that is both comfortable and has decent support. Normally you can only choose one.
Gratlin Women’s Lightly Padded Wirefree Nursing Bra
Gratlin makes the best nursing bras if you want a padded wirefree bra for breastfeeding. It is made of polyamide and spandex, so it is very stretchy.  And because it is padded, the cups easily fold down so you that can breastfeed discreetly without removing the bra entirely. Don’t worry, this padding is thick enough to hide your nipples, but unfortunately they are not removable cups. We really like the adaptability of this nursing bra in to the back fastenings are built in a way that grows with your breast size.
You may even be able to get away with buy one size with this bra has it gives you a lot of room for error. We generally encourage you to buy the bra one size up from what you are normally used to wearing. While the bra gives you more comfort because it is wireless, it provides even better support with a wide bottom band and full coverage. Overall, the material is good, the fit is excellent, and it is nice and durable. It is a bra that provides more support than comfort, although we have no complaints about its comfort levels.
Motherhood Full Coverage Underwire Nursing Bra
Motherhood makes the best nursing bras for those who want a full coverage nursing bra with wires and padding. It is made of nylon and spandex and is a nice and decently comfortable nursing bra. If you want to maximize the amount of support for your breasts, you should definitely get the Motherhood Full Coverage Nursing Bra. We think it is amazing how this bra is made with so much support, yet it is respectfully comfortable.
They are great for plus sized women and women with large breasts who need the extra support. While we don’t think they are as comfortable as a seamless nursing bra, we also don’t think they are uncomfortable enough to warrant serious complaints. Sometimes the underwire will hit your underside when you are moving around rigorously, but it is not annoying enough to be considered uncomfortable.
Choosing the Best Nursing Bras
It is important to choose the best nursing bra for your needs because ultimately comfort is an important issue when you are going through your pregnancy and nursing. Not only is it inconvenient to have an uncomfortable bra, but also it is bit unhealthy as they can slow down the flow of milk and lead to various health issues. If you use a breast pump, maybe you can get around the milk flow issue, but we wouldn’t push it.
The best nursing bras will be specially tailored to breastfeed your infants as they support the extra weight and size of your breasts and well as have some mechanism for quickly removing the cup without taking off the entire bra. There are quite a lot of features to think about when deciding on the best nursing bra for you. We have listed some things to think about below.
Comfort: Comfort level is the most important feature of your nursing bra. If your nursing bra isn’t comfortable, you will have a miserable time and may even hinder your ability to produce milk. Many women don’t understand that your breast can increase during both pregnancy and lactation/nursing. Additionally, you ribcage can expand a bit as well. Instead of purchasing the size you are normally used to purchasing, re measure the band size and buy the new size and perhaps even a size larger. You should also consider a cup size that is one size larger than what you are normally used to account for breast size fluctuations.
Support: There are many things to consider when calibrating the support for the best nursing bra. Keep in mind that support is different from comfort in that those bras with the best support may not be the most comfortable. The band size is probably the most important factor in determining support. A band size that is too large will not hold your breast up and won’t do you any good. Also, the cup size can’t be too large either or your breast won’t hold up. You shouldn’t be able to move your breast around too much in your bra. Also the general build and features such as an underwire affects the support of your bra.
Type of Nursing Bra: There are many types of nursing bras. Nursing bras with an underwire has the most support while a seamless nursing bra with no flaps is the most comfortable but provides the least support. In general, you can have nursing bras with or without flaps and ones with and without underwire. The flap is a removable cup that allows you to swing the cup aside with one hand and discreetly breastfeed without having to remove the entire bra. Nursing bras that don’t have flaps are seamless and don’t support a lot of weight. They are for women with small breast and are light and stretchy. You can also decide whether or not you want an underwire or not. Underwires are great for women with large breast sizes because they provide more support, but they are also uncomfortable. So to sum it all up, you have to decide between comfort and support level knowing that very rarely do you get both.
Flap Type: There are actually two kinds of flaps you can get for your nursing bra. You have middle flaps which connect at the center of the bra and upper flaps which connect at the top of the bra. It is important to pick a flap that is convenient to open and one that opens with a wide enough angle, regardless of the type of flap you choose. In terms of connections, you can either have snaps or hook and loop. Snaps are more expensive, more durable, and harder to manage to open with one hand. Hook and loop is definitely more affordable and easier to manage with one hand, but they are not very durable.
Material: Ideally, you should pick a nursing bra material that is light and durable. Light fabrics also tend to be breathable, stay cool for a long time, and have a lot of movement and comfort. However, the trade-off is they don’t offer that much support. Heavier padded materials are stiffer, so naturally they have more support. The trade-off here is that they are a lot less comfortable and can get hot.
