Help - what breast pads are best

[sarahrach]

Hey ladies - I hope you can help me, I'm putting my list together of things I need for the twins arrival and I'm trying to get it all done early so I can be as prepared as possible.

I've heard lots of horror stories on the disposable breast pads, but was wondering if there are any better than others that you guys would recommend? Thanks!

[~Trish~]

I used the Rite Aid disposable ones when I was using disposable breast pads and they were great. They are really cheap too .

Most breast pads will leak in the early days while your supply is regulating itself.

I bought some cloth breast pads from Maz, they are brilliant and I have saved so much money!

[Glamourcide]

I will forever be indebted to a BB member who recommended to me the Rite Aid gel pads. Seriously, they're amazing. You can get them at supermarkets and Big W, they're a little more exxy than the regular disposable pads and I used them in conjunction with the regular Rite Aid breast pads. The gel ones are so good, they're little discs of jelly-like stuff that you pop on your nipples and they really, really do a fab job of keeping everything hydrated, moisturised and nourished; thereby reducing your chances of cracked, chafed nipples. I have really sensitive nipples (read: painful!) and I credit the gel pads with helping me get through that tough stage of getting used to BFing and kept them hydrated enough to not get sore and cracked. You don't have to wash anything off either, so they're really handy for that too. HTH

[teresa]

i loved the johnsons ones in the purple and white box. they were contoured with a spot for your nipple and reasonably priced.

[Kazzo]

When I had DD I had such a huge supply of milk for the 1st 3 months that when she was feeding from one side the other side would have a couple of let downs and I would leak everywhere. I ended up buying some advent caps that catch the excess milk to wear while feeding and that way it was not going to waste as I could store it just in case I needed it later (never did though) and used Johnson & Johnson breast pads while I was not feeding. They where a little expensive but I found them the best for a heavy leak. I Tried the washable pads but would soak through one straight away. I guess it will all depend on how big of a milk supply you will have, how sensitive your breast/nipples will be and what feels comfortable.

[Calluna]

I used pigeon (sp?) or rite aid ones, I agree with the pp about leaking straight through the cloth ones (I had Avent cloth pads). I was a big leaker too, my main issue was that the milk would spread across the pad and even though it was well covering my nipple I'd still leak over the side. So the bigger (wider) they we're the better.

[meow]

I think I only leaked a couple of times in the first week so personally I wouldn't invest too much into breast pads until you know if you're a leaker or not. I had some sample packs of disposable breast pads that I used a couple of times and that was it.