Nighttime Washable Nursing Pads - Breast-Feeding

I tried the disposable nursing pad and found them scratchy against the skin. Nothing like softness of cotton against the skin.

I have a 6 month old girl who i breastfeed exclusively since she was born. I tent to leak in one breast while she is feeding on the other one, so I have been using Lansinoh disposable nursing pad a lot in the past 6 month. Everybody will tell you Lansinoh disposable pad are great, which is true because you never leak with them BUT once they are wet, they smell terrible no matter how often you change them, because of the plastic cover. In addition if you plan to breastfeed you baby for 2 years like me, the disposable pad become too costy. So i decided to switch to washable ones, i'm so glad i did!
These pads are so soft that you even forget that you have them on, they stay in place AND they smell clean and fresh even after a whole day of wearing them.The cotton layers are so absorbant that they are never soak even after leaking, the surface stay dry all the time maybe because the cotton is breathable. I'm wearing them day and night and never had leaking problem so far. I recommend washing them by hand rather than by machine and let them air dry, so they will be more durable and won't shrink up a lot. I'm definitly no going back to disposable pads ever!

These are the best washable nursing pads that I have used! I leak alot at night and I haven't leaked through these ones yet. I wear them all the time. Even when out in public. I recommend these to every breastfeeding mom out there.

I have a few of these (or like them) from a previous child, so I went looking this time around. I've tried at least 4 different brands, and these have worked best for me. I think I own 18 or 24 now?

In the beginning, I can leak through anything, so I started out with a disposable behind the washable in public, and/or changing every feeding, so I wanted that many, now I can wash them no more than 1x/week. I like these for all day.

Pre-wash for better absorbability. *Any* flannel will shrink the first time (or 2 or 3) it's washed.

Bought these because I cloth diaper my kids and figured that I'd like to use cloth for myself too. BEST thing I ever did. When I wore disposable pads, they would absorb fine, but they SMELLED! Ew! And that smell was on my breast and then I put my child's mouth on that??! NO WAY! Besides the fact that if you keep too much moisture close to your body, you risk infection in one way or another, I seemed to change the disposables a lot at first and I thought that was a waste!

I purchased 12 of these washable cloth pads. I figured that way I'd have plenty to go through if I leaked a lot and then I could have plenty to wash and cycle through. I wear these pads all the time, day or night. 12 seems like plenty for me. When I was still new to my breast feeding cycle with my son, I seemed to leak in them a lot. I would need to replace them every feeding about or else I would leak through and my shirt would become wet. All breast feeding mothers know that this can be embarrassing in public. And now that I've been breast feeding 4 months, I rarely leak at all, and I replace them every other day. (Immediately if they become too wet from an early "let down" which occasionally happens.)

I wash them in my regular whites cycle, I use NO softener, I dry them in the dryer. They aren't as soft as I expect them to be at this point, but I also have very hard water so I figure that plays a factor. I haven't used clothing softener because I know that with cloth diapering if you use it, it builds up in the cloth and can cause smells and I don't want my breast pads to stink. I like them and I don't want to dislike them because of smells.

The pads are not uncomfortable at all, even if they aren't really soft after 4 months of use. They absorb very well for me. If I leak in them though, I change them so it isn't a big deal when you have 12 of them. You'll have to decide how many are reasonable for you, 12 where great in the beginning but maybe more than I need now.

As for cost, If you leak a lot, you'll go through a ton of disposables. It is as easy to change and wash these pads as it is to change and wash your cotton underwear everyday. But environmentally speaking, disposable breast pads are just like disposable diapers they don't decompose as fast as they say they do, and they end up in landfills. Land is not a renewable resource but water IS. And health wise, the chemicals that they use in MOST disposable breast pads to help with moisture absorption are the same in disposable diapers and menstruation pads as well. I personally would like to eliminate as much chemical interaction with my body as I can reasonably avoid. Especially since science can't provide us with the long term effects these chemicals have on our bodies after prolonged use. I have not had any problems with sanitation, infection, or smell with these pads. The ease of these pads is a no brainer.

I have not had a problem with them moving around while I'm sleeping. Maybe that has something to do with my cotton bra. Seems that there is enough friction to keep them in place. I'm also not very large breasted either, so maybe I'm just lucky that they stay in place for me. And the only time I really notice that my pads imprint through my regular shirt is 1. when I first put the cloth pad on, they gradually mold to my breast as the day goes on, 2. my shirt is incredibly tight and everything shows, or 3. the shirt is made out of that material that shows everything underneath it.

I wish I had looked into cloth pads with my first son, because cloth is the BETTER investment!!