I've received several requests from readers & friends wanting to know how they can maintain their style while they're nursing a baby, and having been nursing Claire for the past 9 months (losing the baby weight while doing it) I have some insight. Of course, this is just what has worked for me. I obviously have a specific body type and my tips may not work for everyone but I'm going to do my best to keep these ideas pretty general!
First of all, I just want to say that before I had Claire my style leaned towards kind of the preppy, very put together look - I leaned heavily on shift dresses and things with a nipped in waist. I rarely wore items with low cut necklines because I didn't like to highlight my disproportionately large chest. Those styles did not work for me once I was nursing! I was looking forward to getting back into my pre-baby clothes after I had Claire but I soon learned that even if they fit, they weren't practical.
My old clothes didn't make "the girls" easily accessible. I'm not one to go search out a private space every single time we nurse. If you are, then this series probably isn't something that you need to follow as a guideline! If I were seeking a closet or restroom to feed Claire in whenever she ate, I could simply unzip my shift dress and halfway undress to feed her, no big deal. If that's your jam, great! The most important thing is that you and your baby are comfortable.
Personally, I like to nurse my baby everywhere. If I'm in the midst of a conversation, I would rather nurse Claire and go on with it - it's sort of a personal mission of mine to normalize nursing in public and make it less shocking. I want to encourage other moms to feed their babies without fear, moms who might otherwise be deterred from nursing because they worry it will inhibit their everyday interactions and daily life. I want nursing in public to be a common, natural thing to see.
I also want to do that without telling you that you have to purchase specific clothes "for nursing" because I searched high and low for cute "nursing" clothes and well.....they don't seem to exist yet!
I also want to do that without telling you that you have to purchase specific clothes "for nursing" because I searched high and low for cute "nursing" clothes and well.....they don't seem to exist yet!
That said - I had to rearrange my personal style to make this work. Today's outfit is one that I wear very frequently. It's comfortable for playing with Claire all day but put together enough that I still feel cute. To make my point, I'll just let you know that I wore this outfit the entire day starting at 7 am, and we didn't take these pictures until 6:30 at night. That's nearly 12 hours of stretching the neckline down for nursing, playing, having a baby wipe snot on me and my shirt is still looking pretty good!
To clarify the difference between this and just "jeans and a tee shirt" - this is just a base for you to inject your style. You've got to add 3-5 of the following:
A floppy brimmed fedora.
Some funky flat sandals or tennis shoes.
Great big sunglasses.
A personal piece of jewelry.
An oversized, classic leather handbag.
A men's watch.
A patterned scarf.
I've stepped out of the "style blogging" game for quite some time because I was feeling a little bit disconnected from it, but this has really reinvigorated my interest - if I can encourage moms and moms-to-be that you can nurse your baby for as long as you both wish to and look good doing it, then all the better.
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