Nursing pajamas--good to have or no?

[PAfirsttimemom]

I am due to have a baby next week and am wondering what to take to wear in the hospital. I do want to try to breastfeed. I'm interested in finding out whether other moms found nursing pajamas useful in the hospital and/or after returning home. If so, do you have any favorite kinds/brands? Motherhood has ones with the slits exposed or hidden under an outer shirt layer. Is that outer layer difficult to deal with?

I'd also welcome suggestions for other essentials to take to the hospital. All the books have basic lists, but I'd love to hear about favorite specific must-have items that just really helped you get through labor and postpartum.

Thanks!

[nfowife]

I bought a gown and robe set and never wore them in the hospital. Glad I didn't spend a lot of $$ On them! I just stayed in the hospital gowns in the hospital. You will be bleeding a lot if you have a vag. birth, and you don't want to ruin your own things! When I got home, I mostly wore t shirts and pajama pants with a nursing bra underneath or my nursing tanks and pajama pants. If it's still cold where you are some pj's with a button down shirt would be nice and give easy nursing access as well. I don't really think the motherhood ones are very necessary to be honest.

[PAfirsttimemom]

Thanks for your reply. I was thinking the button-down shirt idea might work nicely. My cousin is a nurse, and she also said many of the women do stay in the hospital gowns.

Happy to hear others' thoughts on this.

[robmab719]

I personally hated the hospital gowns and couldn't wait to get into some pj's. While in the hospital, I just wore a nursing bra under my button-down pajama top, but for this next delivery, I ordered some Glamourmom nursing tanks to wear with my pajama bottoms (or maybe even knit yoga shorts). If you're worried about bleeding on your pajama pants, just go to Target and buy some cheapies on clearance. I lived in pajama pants for about the first 2-3 weeks. (I was also recovering from a c-section, though.)

[PAfirsttimemom]

Will the Glamourmom tanks fit over the belly after delivery? How much does it go down right after delivery? Obviously, the baby is out, but the skin is still way stretched, right?

I tried on a nursing tank at Motherhood a few weeks ago, and it didn't fit, of course, so I decided to hold off on buying until I can determine my appropriate size. How did you know what size tanks to order? How do the Glamourmom tanks run sizewise? I am normally small-chested (34A), but I did buy two nursing bras in 36B in preparation for breastfeeding. I'm thinking I'll take those to the hospital to wear under a pajama top.

[nfowife]

The glamourmom tanks are nice and stretchy (get the bra style if you plan to wear them under stuff mostly, they are much more supportive even if you are small chested). I was able to wear them by 1 week pp and can still wear them today. Your stomach will go down pretty quickly, it will be surprising!
I normally wear a size M shirt but am a 34DD right now because I'm still nursing and the size L glamourmoms have fit me since my DD was born.

[robmab719]

There's actually a Glamourmom maternity tank you can buy that will fit over your belly immediately post-partum. I opted for the non-maternity version because I don't plan to get pregnant again after this one, and I think for the few days that my stomach will still be poochy, I can handle the tank being a little stretched.

I got the L size because I'm normally right between a M and a L, and I'd rather have some extra room. In my case, my bra size stayed about the same from the end of my pregnancy throughout breastfeeding. I know some women go up as much as a cup size when their milk comes in, but I didn't. Also, keep in mind that the rest of your body will slim down as you breastfeed, so you don't want to go too large or you'll lose that "tank" look completely.

[ErinMC]

There is actually a current thread in the Lounge about what people take to the hospital when they go into labor:
http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=37&topic_id=302575&mode=full&page=

I agree with the previous posters - with DS I didn't use the nursing pajamas I brought to the hospital, and just stayed in the hospital gown. It was much easier that way. After returning home, I generally just wore button-down shirts for nursing, especially for those first few days when you're at home and getting the hang of things.

Good luck!

Erin

Mom to Chase Feb. 04

http://bd.lilypie.com/EjO1m5/.png

[ilfaith]

I'm another one wo stuck with hospital gowns while in the hospital...no reason to ruin perfectly nice pjs or nighties.

I bought a few pj sets with button front tops, but, once home, I found it was just easier to pull up a tp over my breast to nurse than dealing with all the buttons. Any tee-shirt style top was just fine for me. Along with a good nursing bra. I had a few nursing tanks as well, but since I had a summer baby and live in Florida, another full layer of clothing was not all that appealing.

[BeachBum]

I wore the hospital gown at the hospital. But once home I found (and still find) nursing PJs a necessity. I have two pair from Nordstrom and one from pajamagram.com I love all three. The best part is that they have cross over parts on the top so you can just pull your boob out without unbuttoning. I don't like to nurse at night with a t-shirt because it just seems like so much fabric bunched up there-- especially when the baby is in bed with me.

[PAfirsttimemom]

Thanks to all for your opinions. I decided to pack a few sets of PJs for the hospital (two with button-down shirts and one with a lowish V-neck tee that would be easy to pull down/aside to breastfeed. I'll see what feels comfortable when I'm there (maybe it will end up being the hospital gowns!). Thanks also to the poster who attached the link about packing for the hospital. I think I am getting pretty prepared. Ready for labor any day now!

[PAfirsttimemom]

The crossover style looks great. The set in that style on pagamagram.com is really cute. There's also a cute one with a cami top that unsnaps for easy nursing. What brand are the PJs you got at Nordstrom? I just looked at the Web site, and it looked like the only ones labeled as "nursing" were from Japanese Weekend, and neither looked like the crossover style you mentioned. Hard to tell by the pictures though. The descriptions didn't really describe the nursing features. I did buy a Motherhood set on sale today because I had a credit slip to use there. It's flannel pants and a long-sleeved T-shirt with the easy-access nursing openings. I may pack them for the hospital just in case I feel like getting out of the hospital gown.

[EagerlyAwaitingBaby]

I for one don't think nursing PJ's are necessary. When you are half asleep at 3AM you'll be totally fine lifting your PJs up or pulling normal PJs down. When I was nursing I liked PJs with spaghetti straps so I could just pull them down or regular button down PJs that could either be pulled up or unbuttoned. IMO, special nursing PJs are an unnecessary expenditure. For the hospital, I would get a nightgown in a dark color (so it doesn't stain) so you can at least look decent when you see visitors. You could wear the hospital gown, but you might want to look a bit better than you would in the gown.

[daisymommy]

I bought 3 sets of nursing pajamas, complete with a pretty robe. Guess what? 2 of the sets still have the tags on them!

I bought the type with the slits in the front thinking they would be so discreet, but try fitting football size swollen breasts through these little cut-out holes! especially in the dark in the middle of the night! So frustrating and not comfortable.

I ended up going the pajama pant and loose tee-shirt route as others have mentioned, and it was much easier that way.

[pbj]

I just received the Aimee nursing gown from nursinggowns.com. I think it's really pretty and won't mind wearing it even when not BFing. It's a crossover-style. I WON'T be taking it to the hospital in case it gets messed up. My MIL got me an incredibly ugly nursing set from Motherhood - due to their awful return policy I didn't have time to return it by the time I got it. I have that one packed in my hospital bag since I'm not too concerned with it! It's got the slit fronts but is just so unflattering, not what I think I'll really want with a postpartum body.