Nursing Bra Controversy: Wire-Free or Underwire?

Nursing Bra Controversy: Wire-Free or Underwire?

Since 2000 we have been in the business of making maternity bras for expecting women and nursing bras for breastfeeding moms,  the first question usually is Wire or No Wire.

First off, this is just personal experience, not simply medical advice.  If you are having issues with clogged ducts, and pain, especially fever ---  quickly find a local Lactation Consultant.  It is worth the money!

In 15 years, I have had no more than 5 customers raise concern about our bras causing a clogged duct for them.  One woman was local, she came into our shop -- she had on a Wirefree bra....but the fit was way too tight! 

We have successfully offered our patented Flexywire  and Wirefree bras for almost 15 years now, and it seems to come down to a few things to be aware of in this realm.  I realize that most doctors still don't recommend and underwire, but I bet it has more to do with caution because of a worst case scenario, than the success women have had breastfeeding with underwire nursing bras for years.

Our breastfeeding model Audrey 

1. Bra Fit

If the fit of the bra is too tight and constricting, this can easily cause the clogged ducts.  A key location is the bra cup seam - notice if it is digging in, especially if that seam is on top of breast tissue.  It should be supporting tissue, not cutting it off.  Also, loose saggy bras can be a culprit too!  If your breast tissue is not supported well enough, gravity can be working against your milk flow.

2. Genetics

Some women are pre-disposed to getting clogged ducts, or worse - mastitis.  If you know this about yourself, personally I recommend not to play Russian Roulette - just go tp a good bra fitter (usually a local lingerie boutique or a customer service focused department store like Nordstrom) and get a wirefree nursing bra.  I highly recommend our Smooth Cup Wirefree bra especially if you are an E-H cup, also our Mesh Plunge or Anytime Bras are good wirefree alternatives.

3. Low tech 

If you are not pre-disposed to mastitis in a severe way, I personally found if there was a sore spot on my breast I would rub it firmly.  Usually I would be able to find the duct which was a little clogged (on all different spots) and like a cramp, you can gently massage it. It seemed to work for me, but again this is not medical advice - just my personal experience.  

4. Heal after birth - grow into breastfeeding

You just birthed a baby (vaginally or surgically it is traumatic on your body) give yourself time to recover and heal.  Even though I am a fan of the underwire - I needed a couple of weeks to get used to breastfeeding, feeling comfortable and in a good rhythem with my baby boy.

Please feel free to contact us with any questions - we have helped thousands of women over these years.

Toll Free: 1-888-700-8438 (10am - 3pm PST)

Email: order@bellamaterna.com

Chat on our website: www.BellaMaterna.com 

 Here is another resource for Breastfeeding-Problems.com

Take care - get plenty of rest and water, 

Anne

Bella Materna|President|Mom

USA Health Reform and Breastfeeding Mothers

Federal Health Reform and Nursing Mothers

President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act (ACA) on March 30, 2010. (See the combined full text of Public Laws 111-148 and 111-152 here.)  Among many provisions, Section 4207 of the law amends the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) of 1938 (29 U.S. Code 207) to require an employer to provide reasonable break time for an employee to express breast milk for her nursing child for one year after the child's birth each time such employee has need to express milk. The employer is not required to compensate an employee receiving reasonable break time for any work time spent for such purpose. The employer must also provide a place, other than a bathroom, for the employee to express breast milk.  If these requirements impose undue hardship, an employer that employs fewer than 50 employees is not subject to these requirements. The federal requirements shall not preempt a state law that provides greater protections to employees.

For more information:

• Fact Sheet on Break Time for Nursing Mothers under the FLSA, U.S. Department of Labor
• Break Time for Nursing Mothers, U.S. Department of Labor
• Frequently Asked Questions – Break Time for Nursing Mothers, U.S. Department of Labor
• Reasonable Break Time for Nursing Mothers: Request for Information from the public, Federal Register Notices, Vol. 75, No. 244, December 21, 2010

In addition, the ACA requires new private health insurance plans, including those available in the new health insurance marketplaces, to provide coverage for specified women’s preventive health services with no cost sharing (e.g., copayment, coinsurance, or deductible). Breastfeeding support, supplies and lactation counseling are one of these specified preventive services.

For more information:

• Preventive Services Covered Under the Affordable Care Act, NCSL webpage
• Women's Preventive Services Guidelines, Health Services and Resources Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
• Affordable Care Act Rules on Expanding Access to Preventive Services for Women, HHS.gov/HealthCare, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, August 2011

Hopefully this has given you some insights to the improvements made for pregnant and breastfeeding moms. This information is provided as a resource for you to learn more about your rights.  

If you need help finding the best maternity bras or breastfeeding bras, please contact us.  We are experts in ascertaining which nursing bras will work for you in the long run, and estimating your size and product needs. We love supporting our breastfeeding moms, with full bust nursing bras wirefree or underwire, with nursing accessories and nursing clothing to suit your specific needs.

Take care - get plenty of rest and water, 

Anne

Bella Materna|President|Mom

#Unicef it is not just #Breastfeed it is #Breastmilkfed the Milk is the key!

Keep breastfeeding, it is tough sometimes - but so valuable!

Here is an important scientific article from the Science Daily.com taken from Brown University research, on the value of keeping up with breastfeeding even when things get tough!

I do want to put in a support line here for - any breastfeeding is better than none at all.  

Even if you cannot produce enough, and need to supplement (use Organic!) every drop helps your baby develop!

We are here to support you!  Let us know how we can!

Thank you,

Anne 

Bella Materna

MRI study: Breastfeeding boosts babies' brain growth

MRI images, taken while children were asleep, showed that infants who were exclusively breastfed for at least three months had enhanced development in key parts of the brain compared to children who were fed formula or a combination of formula and breastmilk. Images show development of myelization by age, left to right. (Credit: Baby Imaging Lab/Brown University)

June 6, 2013 — A study using brain images from "quiet" MRI machines adds to the growing body of evidence that breastfeeding improves brain development in infants. Breastfeeding alone produced better brain development than a combination of breastfeeding and formula, which produced better development than formula alone.

---

Share This:

1K

A new study by researchers from Brown University finds more evidence that breastfeeding is good for babies' brains.

The study made use of specialized, baby-friendly magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to look at the brain growth in a sample of children under the age of 4. The research found that by age 2, babies who had been breastfed exclusively for at least three months had enhanced development in key parts of the brain compared to children who were fed formula exclusively or who were fed a combination of formula and breastmilk. The extra growth was most pronounced in parts of the brain associated with language, emotional function, and cognition, the research showed.

This isn't the first study to suggest that breastfeeding aids babies' brain development. Behavioral studies have previously associated breastfeeding with better cognitive outcomes in older adolescents and adults. But this is the first imaging study that looked for differences associated with breastfeeding in the brains of very young and healthy children, said Sean Deoni, assistant professor of engineering at Brown and the study's lead author.

"We wanted to see how early these changes in brain development actually occur," Deoni said. "We show that they're there almost right off the bat."

The findings are in press in the journal NeuroImage and available now online.

Deoni leads Brown's Advanced Baby Imaging Lab. He and his colleagues use quiet MRI machines that image babies' brains as they sleep. The MRI technique Deoni has developed looks at the microstructure of the brain's white matter, the tissue that contains long nerve fibers and helps different parts of the brain communicate with each other. Specifically, the technique looks for amounts of myelin, the fatty material that insulates nerve fibers and speeds electrical signals as they zip around the brain.

Deoni and his team looked at 133 babies ranging in ages from 10 months to four years. All of the babies had normal gestation times, and all came from families with similar socioeconomic statuses. The researchers split the babies into three groups: those whose mothers reported they exclusively breastfed for at least three months, those fed a combination of breastmilk and formula, and those fed formula alone. The researchers compared the older kids to the younger kids to establish growth trajectories in white matter for each group.

The study showed that the exclusively breastfed group had the fastest growth in myelinated white matter of the three groups, with the increase in white matter volume becoming substantial by age 2. The group fed both breastmilk and formula had more growth than the exclusively formula-fed group, but less than the breastmilk-only group.

"We're finding the difference [in white matter growth] is on the order of 20 to 30 percent, comparing the breastfed and the non-breastfed kids," said Deoni. "I think it's astounding that you could have that much difference so early."

Deoni and his team then backed up their imaging data with a set of basic cognitive tests on the older children. Those tests found increased language performance, visual reception, and motor control performance in the breastfed group.

The study also looked at the effects of the duration of breastfeeding. The researchers compared babies who were breastfed for more than a year with those breastfed less than a year, and found significantly enhanced brain growth in the babies who were breastfed longer -- especially in areas of the brain dealing with motor function.

Deoni says the findings add to a substantial body of research that finds positive associations between breastfeeding and children's brain health.

"I think I would argue that combined with all the other evidence, it seems like breastfeeding is absolutely beneficial," he said.

Other authors on the study were Douglas Dean, Irene Piryatinsky, Jonathan O'Muircheartaigh, Lindsay Walker, Nicole Waskiewicz, Katie Lehman, Michelle Han and Holly Dirks, who all work with Deoni in the Baby Imaging Lab. The work was funded by the National Institutes of Mental Health.

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:

Share on stumbleuponShare on linkedinShare on pinterest_shareShare on bloggerShare on diggShare on deliciousShare on newsvine|1K

---

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided byBrown University.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Journal Reference:

1. Sean C.L. Deoni, Douglas C. Dean, Irene Piryatinksy, Jonathan O'Muircheartaigh, Nicole Waskiewicz, Katie Lehman, Michelle Han, Holly Dirks. Breastfeeding and early white matter development: A cross-sectional study. NeuroImage, 2013; DOI:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.05.090

Need to cite this story in your essay, paper, or report? Use one of the following formats:

 APA

 MLA

Brown University (2013, June 6). MRI study: Breastfeeding boosts babies' brain growth.ScienceDaily. Retrieved June 24, 2013, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­/releases/2013/06/130606141048.htm

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

enlarge

Bras 2 Moms

So glad we found this fantastic resource

Bras 2 Moms:  http://bras2moms.wordpress.com/

Bras2Moms exists so that no mom becomes discouraged with or stops breastfeeding because she cannot afford a nursing bra.

As you know anyone who manufactures products, inevitably has some number of items that are not suited for sale, something happened to the poor little item along the way and the company does not want to sell it.  

Well, we make our bras espcially good, so they last extra long (one of our early start-up commitments was to make quality products -- not something that would be short life span / landfill bound). 

Therefore, if an item cannot be sold -- snag here --- stain there --- bra strap issue here - or unforseen thing there....we obviously don't sell it.  It just kills me to think of it going in the landfill unused or short of its life potential even though it is not perfect!  (One quick story; cousin Mindy - who, of course had a bra from our early years said just the other day- "you make these bras too good -- they last so long I can still wear this one and it is great!")

ANYHOW - back to Bras 2 Moms.  So inevitably we have some items that cannot be sold.  We box them up and send them off to Bras 2 Moms.  There they clean them, repair them and give them to moms in need! 

Today I recieved an email from Emily of Bras to Moms - here is a snippit:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Anne!

Thank you so much, I picked up the bras that you mailed. They are wonderful! You really do make some of the most beautiful bras out there, and I would know, I see a lot of bras! A lot of these bras have padded cups which is the only request I ever get, moms like padded cups, so they will be extra appreciated.

One of the moms who came to tonight's fitting left saying "I can't wait to go home and breastfeed!". She was so excited to have nursing bras, she had been having to undress each time she nursed her baby and was so grateful for her new nursing bras!

Thank you for all of your support!

Emily

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

With all this in mind; we have been discussing the possibilty of  starting a donation program at Bella Materna.  The idea is: our customers who have loved their bras, but they are done nursing, done having kiddos....can donate their loved Bella Materna bras and in exchange get $ off toward a new regular Bella Materna bra (without the nursing clips).   We will need to find larger partner organizations and the best place to fill the need (Breastfeeding is still a foreign idea to millions of people!!!).  If you know of any organizations please let me know -- or if you think this is a good idea please give us your input! 

Thanks - Anne of Bella Materna