The Leaky Side of Breastfeeding: Review of Nursing Pads

All the loveliness aside of breastfeeding and enjoying my newborn baby, there's the messy and embarassing side of leaking breasts.  I haven't tried ALL possible nursing pads out there, but have tried a few, and so thought I'd share my thoughts :)

 (oh and of course, all these products were all bought by me; nothing was sponsored and so the "thoughts" are my honest opinions)

 

Washables:

Environmentally friendly, albeit more expensive. I've tried 3 brands, here we go:

Thyme: This comes in a pack of 4, which I bought in store for $8. Super soft, has indentation/fold to help it curve around the breast.  The backside has a different material to help the keep the wetness in and hopefully your shirt dry.  My thoughts: I really like it! Out of all the washables, leaks the least! However, given the soft bunchy material, I find it's best worn with a shaped bra (I prefer with underwire) so that your chest doesn't look like it's been "stuffed", which will happen if you wear a thin/cloth bra.

Nuk: This comes in a pack of 6 for $4.99, so is much cheaper than Thyme.  BUT...you get what you pay for unfortunately.  My thoughts: only usable for about 3  or so hours before leaking onto the bra.  Also, the material is nowhere near as soft as the Thyme ones, a difference which I can definitely feel. These pads are also flat, and I mean FLAT. There is no curvature or indent or fold.  I'm not sure why they thought making a flat pad is a a good idea as the last time I checked, breasts all have some sort of curvature to them! Makes them difficult to fit into a bra, also edges can bunch up and seem very obvious. I found I have to use these with a bra that has a larger cup to "cup" these in so no edges or bunches show through.

La Leche League: Pack of 4 for $6.99, not badly priced... however, for a product put out for the supposed breastfeeding guru league, I was hugely dissapointed. My thoughts: soft and well shaped, but woa... major leakage! These are the only nursing pads that are actually shaped in a actual curve, just like the actual breast, and so they fit very nicely inside ANY bra, which is great...except that the cotton material has no backing, and leaks right through to the bra, and then the shirt.  I had worn these only for about 2-3 hours before I felt that my SHIRT was wet....was sitting in a restaurant too, embarassing indeed.  Think I will maybe just use these either for very short trips for just inside the home or something when I don't care so much about leakage.

Disposables:

Cheap (per pad), not so environmentally friendly, but convenient and no hassle, just use and throw. I've tried 2 brands:

Simplisse: Got a pack of 60 for $12.99.  My thoughts: dissapointed.  Now these aren't THAT bad...but they didn't live up to their advertising.  First of all, packaging says that the "flower" shape will allow the pad to curve around the breast. Um...I don't think so.... So we essentially just have a flat pad again. Yes these are very thin, but can bunch, so again have to be careful with the bra you use. They do have some sort of a backing which is advertised to keep your clothes dry, but it is completely useless.  For me, this leaks onto the bra in about 2 hours. Home or short trip use only!

Lansinoh: So I saved the best for last...these are the overall best pads I recommend. They are thin, they have a fold to fit into your bra, and they have a real plastic backing which actually does what it's supposed to do, keep your cloths dry. I've worn these for about 5-6 hours with no leakage! I'm not even going to post how much I bought them for because price doesn't even matter here because they actually work and do what they're supposed to do! (they're not expensive, cheaper than the Simplisse, got mine at Walmart).







Well that's all I've tried and those are my thoughts.  Hope it's helpful somewhat. If you're a new mom like me you're probably extremely sleep-deprived and if you're reading this, don't forget to enjoy each and every moment with your baby, they do grow sooo very fast ^_^