A new mother sits back in her rocking chair and looks down as her baby girl starts to breastfeed. Suddenly her left breast begins to tingle and let down milk as well. Another woman walks through the produce aisles, hears the cry of a hungry baby, and her milk lets down. A mother looks at her watch and knows her son is hungry, right before her breasts begin to tingle. A woman wakes up at 2 a.m. to her son’s cries and her breasts leaking. All of these women are happy to be wearing bra pads (also known as nursing pads) to absorb the leaking milk.
Almost all nursing women will occasionally leak breast milk – especially in the initial days of breast feeding when the milk supply is getting established and breasts may become very full and engorged. Fortunately, many nursing pads are on the market to absorb the leaking milk and prevent the embarrassment of having everyone else know when milk lets down. Two of the most popular are the Lansinoh Bra Pads and the Johnson & Johnson Bra Pads, both readily available.
The most important thing a bra pad can do is absorb the breast milk, but it also has to be comfortable and not show through a nursing mother’s clothes. Nursing pads can be reusable cotton pads or disposable paper pads. The most commonly used nursing pads are disposables, and the Lansinoh and Johnson & Johnson brands both have their pros and cons.
Lansinoh is best known for its topical lanolin that breast feeding mothers use to soothe sore nipples. It also makes excellent bra pads. The Lansinoh pads are individually wrapped, which make them perfect for slipping extras in purses, diaper bags and glove compartments. The Lansinoh bra pads are extra-thin, but also extra absorbent. Since Lansinoh is dedicated to making nursing a more comfortable experience, the pads also have a soft lining that absorbs milk into the pad and away from the skin. This stay-dry function is important because it prevents the nipple from chafing and sticking to the pad. The contoured pad adheres to the inside of a woman’s bra so it is not necessarily obvious she is wearing a bra pad. Lansinoh bra pads are available in boxes of 36 or 60 disposal pads, and cost $4.99 for 36 pads and $9.99 for 60 pads.
Mothers have been turning to Johnson & Johnson products for years and its bath and skin care products are among the most used and trusted for babies. The Johnson & Johnson disposable bra pads are soft paper. Their shape is the same as the cup of a bra and presses into the bra; additionally the Johnson & Johnson bra pad has a nipple indentation for extra room. Its special “rustle free” design is intended to be quiet and additionally discrete. The pads come in boxes of 60 for approximately $7.99.
So which bra pad is best? In my opinion, the Lansinoh pads are vastly superior. In comparison to the Johnson & Johnson pads, the Lansinoh pads are slimmer and lighter, and at the end of a night can have swollen to two or three times their original size. At the end of a day or night, the pad is frequently very heavy but never feels wet. Especially during the first couple of months of nursing, I would change my bra pads several times during the day to ensure I wouldn’t have visible leaking or bulkiness. When you take them out of the box, the Johnson’s pads feel extremely soft, but I had trouble with them sticking to my skin, which for mothers who are already sensitive because of nursing is not a pleasant feeling. Additionally, because of the bulkier design, the Johnson’s pads were frequently visible through my shirt whereas the Lansinoh pads are contoured to the breast. For women on a budget, who have less sensitive skin, and/or a less active let-down reflex, the Johnson’s pads are a good choice because they are less expensive and occasionally have coupons and do a decent job of absorbing milk. However, breastfeeding is an initially overwhelming process and to me it’s worth having one less thing to worry about and just use the Lansinoh bra pads that don’t have some of Johnson’s issues.
