Gearhead Mom

Breast Pads

It sure seems like these are among the first things you need when you begin to resemble lactating livestock within hours of welcoming your baby.  I narrowed my favorite kinds to Johnson’s (most natural, comfortable, least conspicuous) and Target’s brand breast pads (similar to Johnson’s).  Lansinoh’s pads fold weirdly and then have creases that you have to position properly so as not to scream I Have Something Down My Shirt.  Gerber ones felt papery to me.  But you soon will have your favorite, too. I tried the fabric washable ones, and they were nice for back-up, but not my mainstays. If anyone has tried LilyPadz, I’d be curious to hear about them. Shall I mention how tempted I am to continue wearing my Johnson’s ones as my children appear to have sucked two bra sizes out of me? So sixth grade. 

Breast Pump

If you have to pump For Serious (more than once a day) because your baby isn’t hacking breastfeeding or you work away from your little one, you should dish out the cash for the best pump, which most moms I know agree is the Medela Pump-in-Style (don’t be fooled by the name, however. No pump on the market will make you feel “in style.”  At. All.)
But given how painful the process is, and how messy, and how potentially embarrassing, as well as HOW IMPORTANT, and how much TRUE LOVE it signifies, you owe yourself the fastest, most efficient, and easiest model to use.  Worth it, unless you can get one for free:  I actually used a hand-me-down of the Medela Pump-in-Style.  That grosses some people out. But the machine itself doesn’t store the milk or touch it; the replaceable paraphernalia does.  Personally, I think it would be great if more moms passed these suckers around, because they are pricey. The Pump In Style even has a little slot for a picture of your babe. It helps to visualize feeding your child while breastfeeding.
I had a manual breast pump on hand (like this one, and which could fit in my purse: that came in handy when I was at a wedding for an uncomfortably long time and basically just needed to pump and dump.  Anyone have a manual pump to recommend?

Missy had the Whittlestone hand pump and loathed it. All it did was pinch, pinch, pinch. She also had to pump around the clock the first three months until Sy got the hang of breastfeeding, so she rented the Medela Symphony, a hospital grade pump, which resembles something out of a Hello Kitty catalog. It’s very quiet, efficient and easy to use. It’s also THOUSANDS of dollars, so it’s best to rent that one.

Milk Storage Bags and Organizers

Thank goodness breast milk storage bags no longer require twist ties to close them. Egads. Lansinoh brand ziploc-type bags are good—ANY ziplocking ones are great. The Lansinoh brand’s bags are BPA-free. Do yourself a favor and splurge for the freezer organizer, too. If you really get your production going, you can fill your freezer fast, and it’s good to use older milk first, so an organizational strategy is a must!

Nursing Bras

I am not a fan of the “drop cup” style nursing bra. Seems easy, but there’s the question of what to do, exactly, with the “cup” once it’s “dropped”: roll it down? Tuck it under your tyke’s chin? My babies tended to let the proverbial cup “runneth over,” which left the cup soggy, and therefore, the one spot I don’t want to be wet, WET. No thanks. I am going to recommend “center snap” nursing bras, because the cup conveniently retracts to your armpit area, away from all dribbles. This is a personal preference, but I highly recommend you try one bra of this ilk (missing “m” intended) and go from there.

Sleep bra

What is the sleep bra, exactly? Well, it’s a looser, less support-offering bra that makes breastfeeding simpler at night, when it’s dark and you are half-asleep and so is your babe. If you have not breastfed anyone yet, you may be thinking, “Why would I need a bra at night?” Yeah, I thought that too. Especially since my breasts barely deserved a bra during the day (except when I was pregnant…). Nevertheless, you will want something there, trust me, for many reasons I won’t go into.  Something without hooks, snaps, or any other kinds of closures. I became a big proponent of the regular old camisole when I knew I would be home during the day, safely out of sight of polite company, because I could just pull the top down and my baby could go to town. I put breast pads inside and voila. (You can buy breastfeeding tank tops now, too). But I had one dear friend send me a great sleep bra, and I wore it at night whenever it wasn’t in the laundry: 

Lansinoh Wipes

Lest you think these wipes are for your baby’s bum, think again. They are the treat you need for those showerless days and hours, for after pumping, for leaking and for the general grossness you feel at many times when you are producing milk. They are soft and treated with lanolin, so you don’t have to worry about breastfeeding right after. They made my skin feel great and were a terrific “sponge bath” when that was all I could manage. These are for you; buy Costco wipes for your kiddo. 

My Brest Friend

I don’t love the name of this product, but I have great respect for how it saved me my first month of breast feeding, providing support for my back AND my arms while I breastfed and recovered from a c-section. The second child around, I had no need for a Boppy or Brest Friend; the muscles of my arms and back were already used to the contortion of carrying another human around all the time in odd positions that look normal to everyone else. I don’t care how much you work out; cradling a baby is WORK, and you are not prepared for it the first time. So, ask around if any friends have a Brest Friend. And make that friend your Best Friend, because this item has limited but valuable use and is best borrowed. I am not the only person I know who had a Boppy which has its own long-term value, but which does not function quite like the Brest Friend while you are trying to do football feedings, etc. and Feel Remotely Comfortable.

Hooter Hider

Again, not my favorite product name, but all the young moms I know seem to have one. Honestly, by the time I finished breastfeeding my second daughter, I was willing to do it pretty publicly with an old smoker kind of attitude, ready to challenge curious onlookers: What? You have a problem with this? MAKE MY DAY. But I respect the fact that when I was a new mom with my first daughter, I could not figure out how I would gracefully breastfeed in public, and it made me nervous, and I felt self-conscious, and well, the only product out there was SUPER DORKY, made me and my baby hot, and it did not help me feel More Normal. Now, with the Hooter Hider, you can choose your fabric and there’s a great built-in wire that holds the fabric away, to increase YOUR view of YOUR child without increasing the view of YOUR hooters by THE PUBLIC.  My sister says the nurses in the NICU borrowed hers to make patterns in order to make their own to provide new moms. There’s an endorsement. Missy just noticed that the company also markets the same product under the name Bebe Au Lait in case Hooter Hiders makes your skin crawl.

Water Water Everywhere

My mom told me that I every time I breast fed, I should put two tall glasses of water next to me and drink up. Missy picked that trick up, too and it helped us not feel like camels lost in the desert in August.

Get Some Help, Read a Book, Call a Friend!

When it comes right down to it, breastfeeding is Hard. If you need help, by all means call all of your breastfeeding friends and contact a lactation consultant. Missy consulted SEVEN before Sy got it down pat. You can ask the lactation consultants at the hospital for the names of consultants who make home visits, or look them up in your local phone book. It’s also good to read a book if you need some hints. Check out The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding, published by the La Leche League (also a great resource for breastfeeding). Good luck and keep on keepin’ on!