What to wear in labour?

Hi everyone, all the midwifes and doctors I speak to say that I should get a front opening nightie to labour in so that I can then have bub go straight to me for a breast feed after birth. I have looked everywhere and can't find one! I can only find ones with 2 or 3 buttons at the top, not exactly what the mw's are talking about and besides they are dead ugly!

Just wondering, what are you wearing, what have you worn that worked, what do you wish you'd worn?

I wore a t-shirt & a sarong to begin with & then nuded up to hop in the shower (bliss) and stayed naked til after he was born. Didn't care about the nudity either!

i had clothes on til i got in the shower then nudie after that!! much easier than worrying about clothes!

I don't think it matters what you wear in labour because your top can always be lifted up and bubby put straight on your chest after birth. It gives bub heaps of access for a breast feed or alternatively you can just take your top off after bub is born.
Wear whatever you will be comfortable to labour in as that is really important. Like I said whatever you wear can be taken off in the matter of a few seconds. This is what the huge majority of ladies I look after in labour do.
The other thing I suggest to pg women is to wear something that you don't mind if it gets thrown away as it can get quite dirty/bloody after the actual birth.
I personally laboured in my knickers and a t-shirt (white of all colours, LOL!!) but got nudie for the shower and stayed that way until my shower after DD was born. Like the girls said it is much easier than worrying about clothes which I found really weird as I'm the biggest prude going around but I was stark naked in front of ladies/drs I work with.

i wore a normal t=shirt nightie first time and like Nursedan said just lifted it up for skin on skin.
i wore a normal t-shirt that buttoned most of the way down second time but put on a hospital gown towards the end (i cant remember why). you could put it on back to front so that it opens up at front.

I wore a hosp gown. I am sure they aren't front opening so i have no idea what i did when it came to feeding. I do remember feeding but not sure how that worked with the gown. Not much help sorry.

DD1 i had a shirt and bra on.....took it off once she was born
DD2 i was naked from the time i got into the shower (about 1 hour after i arrived)
DS naked from the time i was in the shower (about 15 mins after i arrived)

I bought pj's that had a shirt with buttons down the front. I got it a few sizes larger than I needed so I just wore the top and it was long enough to give me some modesty when I still cared about that in the early stages.

I just wore the hospital gown. It had buttons all the way down the front so could be undone for skin to skin easily.

i had a black singlet top on.. kind of a sheer material, and its quite long. i ended up in the bath, and just popped the singlet back on after i got out.

i was more comfortable covered up, however i never had anything covering my bottom half after the bath. i do remember saying to mum after dd was born 'omg! can someone cover me up!' lol i thought it was funny.

as for the breast feeding, whatever you wear can be taken off or adjusted so that you can feed.

I wore a t-shirt nighty with my first and a singlet with my second. Both times I just lifted my top up when bubs was born, It worked great for me.

Hi,

I wore a singlet and shorts (it was so hot), while walking around the hospital waiting to be dilated enough... when they decided to put the drip on and contraction were much much stronger I wore just the singlet and underwear... then I don't know at which point I was completely naked and couldn't care less (lol)!!! I am usually shy and not exposing my private parts (no topless tan for me!) but in the delivery room I couldn't care who was coming in and out and if male or female... I just wanted the baby out! lol
how funny, I was also a firm believer of bf but concern on doing it in public but after my DD was born I was bf in front of everybody... how do we change once mothers!
good luck

My sister found two nighties in Bras n Things, Short Stories brand, that buttoned right through. She wore one and then gave them to me for my turn.

I only had the top few buttons done up and then had it open over my belly and had undies on underneath. The undies came off but then nightie stayed on for the whole thing, except when I was in the shower. But the nightie went back on once I was out of the shower - for some reason I still cared!

I was basically nude though once she was born - the buttons were undone and she was placed on my chest.

One friend suggested an old business shirt of your DP's is a good option!

You know, in all the births I've attended I have never, ever seen anyone undo their button-up nightie to put the baby skin to skin or breastfeed.

What usually happens - they are either already naked when the baby is born (usually because they've been in the shower, come out in very strong labour and were completely uninterested in getting dressed again), or they just shove the shirt up to their neck because it's quicker and easier :lol:

Just get something that is breathable and comfy, and that you can throw away if it gets to messy to bother washing it.

For my labours I bought a huge (XXL) mens tshirt from best and less. They cost me $5 and I threw them away afterwards :)

I was nudie rudie LOL! well, i had the hospital gown on for a couple of hours but in a mad fit i ripped it off and stomped on it....

i too couldnt find an attractive front opening nightie...what's with the floral ppl??!!!

Wow - thanks so much for all of your responses!! I feel heaps more relaxed about it now and will prolly just wear an old tee of DH's! Can't believe I've spent so long worrying about this :) lol Thanks so much

Cassius - we must have been posting at the same time :) I know what you mean with the lame floral prints!!

naked all 3 times!

I wore a nighty (a t-shirt style one, no buttons) until I had an epi when they put me in a hospital gown. I got annoyed with anything touching my skin while I was pushing and I was hot and bothered so just ripped the gown off and was naked. With all the comotion going on, no one had noticed that I'd taken everything off. Even to this day my DH can't remember me being naked when I gave birth and DD is 14 months old now.

I went naked. Easy. They did try to make we wear the hospital gown, which I did wear for a very short while, but then I took it off because I just couldnt handle having anything touching me.