4 Essential Hacks To Make Your Existing Wardrobe Breastfeeding Friendly

What to wear while breastfeeding so that you can breastfeed your baby easily, both at home and out and about in public hacks you need to know.

Breastfeeding is said to be the best start that you can give your baby, but it does not come without its challenges.

Babies have no concept that some locations may be more convenient than others for nursing, so you need to be able to get your boobs out wherever you are at a moment’s notice.

I’m not suggesting for a second that you should want to hide while feeding your baby, quite the opposite in fact. I have fed my four children everywhere that we have been, but you still want to be able to do it with minimal fuss and without stripping off completely.

So what exactly are you supposed to wear to manage to feed your baby discreetly in public? Fear not and read on, I’ve got you covered.

Table Of Contents

1. Maternity Clothes With Nursing Options

As I discussed in my Things That They Fail To Tell You About Postnatal Recovery post, there are many things that I wish that I had known before having my babies.

The one thing that came as quite a shock to me was that once I had given birth, I did not look any different. I had previously assumed that I would pop out the baby and put my jeans straight back on.

I was so very wrong.

I was stuck looking pregnant and wearing my maternity clothes for weeks and weeks (months in some cases) after all four babies as I simply could not get into any of my normal clothes.

With this in mind, while you are purchasing maternity wear, keep a lookout for any tops or dresses that have a nursing option.

While I don’t believe that it is necessary to purchase specific nursing tops after the birth, if you are splashing out on something to wear during your 9-month stint anyway, you may as well select items that will make life easier after the birth too.

2. The Two Top Trick

This is the main clothing hack that I used every day for feeding my children. Quite simply, I wore a vest top (long ones work well for covering any muffin top squeezing out of my jeans), with another top over the vest. When it came time to feed, I simply pulled the top layer top up and the bottom layer vest down.

This solution meant that I could discreetly feed my baby without getting my boobs totally out and without exposing my stretch mark covered tummy.

If you have ever seen one of my Facebook Lives (like the one below) from when Zara was a baby, you have probably seen me feed her. This method meant that I could wear my normal clothing and didn’t have to feel self-conscious with too much skin on show.

3. The Scarf Solution

In the warmer months (the very few warmer months that we have in the UK), I get a little warm to do the 2 top trick, so move to the scarf solution.

During the summer months, I tend to be wearing just a vest top or t shirt. To avoid having to lift my vest up and expose my less than flat tummy, I simply added a lightweight scarf at feeding time.

If you wrap the scarf around your neck to hold it in place, you can use the rest of the scarf to cover the area of skin between your neck and your boobs. This way, when you pull your vest down to feed your little one, you have less skin above your boobs on show, making you feel far less naked.

4. The Sick Cloth Cover

Now I’m pretty sure that most households don’t call them “sick cloths”, but in a household where all four of my babies were projectile pukers, this is how we refer to muslin squares or muslin cloths.

Whatever you decide to call them, they can be handy tools for breastfeeding as well as moping up spew.