Nursing clothing is designed to make breastfeeding more convenient and is especially useful to busy moms on the go. Just like maternity clothing, nursing wear is a specialty category and therefore expensive. As useful as maternity wear is, I felt bad spending a ton of money on yet another temporary wardrobe solution. In this post, I will share how I updated my wardrobe to nursing wear on a zero budget. At the time of writing this, I have been exclusively nursing my son for 6 months and have not purchases any nursing wear!
How to Find Inexpensive Nursing Clothing
Let’s get clear on exactly what makes for good nursing clothes. Any piece of clothing (usually a top or a dress) that gives baby easy access to your breasts while still keeping you clothed is all you need for nursing wear. Tops such as regular t-shirts and sweaters don’t give baby easy access. Tops with deep v necklines made out of stretchy fabrics give better access assuming you are wearing a nursing tank or bra underneath. The great news is that it’s unbelievably easy to convert regular or maternity bras and tanks into nursing ones. I will discuss this in more detail later on in this post.
For the most part, you don’t really need specialty nursing clothing outside of nursing bras and tank tops. Peruse your closet for any tops (including maternity tops) that would convert well into nursing attire. Look for stretchy tops with deep V necklines, wrap shirts, wrap dresses, and ponchos. Also dig out all of your tank tops. They can easily be converted into nursing tanks and worn under any cardigans, blazers and button down shirts.
For me, the hardest part of putting together a nursing wardrobe was finding nursing bras. First of all, my bust size eliminates many options. Secondly, most of the options I found were super expensive and looked like my grandmother’s bras. Yikes! I did a lot of research and found out that there were plenty of places that sold sexy maternity and nursing bras. I devoted a whole post to this topic: Where to Find Sexy Nursing Bras. As not frumpy as these bras were, most of them were still too spendy for temporary clothing items. I then found DIY instructions for converting your favorite bras into nursing bras. The best part is that this tutorial is easy enough for someone with no sowing skills (like myself) to execute perfectly. Finding this tutorial prompted me to write a Round Up of the Best DIY Tutorials for Nursing Bras, Nursing Tanks and Nursing T-shirts on the Web. Reference this post for instructions on converting your bras into nursing bras, DIY pumping bras, and other DIY nursing necessities.
If you look around you will see that with just a little bit of handy work, the items you already own can make for fantastic nursing clothing!
Ways to Save on Maternity Clothing
Where to Find Stylish Maternity Clothes on a Budget
Building a Winter Maternity Clothing Wardrobe on a Budget
Building a Spring Maternity Clothing Wardrobe on a Budget
Becca Daniels is a self-proclaimed fashionista from St.Paul Minnesota who believes that “just because you are pregnant and on a budget, it doesn’t mean you should look and feel frumpy”. She is the momma behind Inexpensive Maternity Clothes, a blog focused on helping women find stylish and inexpensive maternity clothes online. Keep in touch with Becca on Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter.
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