Best Nursing Pads EVER.

Bras. Tampons. Shoes.

That should take care of any of the guys who got past the title of today's post.

I have been struggling with nursing pads since B was born. I thought I could just reuse the ones that I'd purchased while nursing E, but they were a tiny bit funky and I don't know about you, but I don't want funk near my lady parts. So I bought a box of Lansinoh disposable nursing pads and figured that I'd just order some new washable pads.

Well. I googled and googled and googled. In all my googling, I could not find the ones I had and loved. I was tempted by these but the threat of thrush and the reviews that warned of how they are magnets for dog hair...I don't know about you, but I don't want thrush or dog hair near my lady parts either. I still had my cotton pads, but who do these work for? They're lumpy and they leak like crazy. Wearing cotton nursing pads is only slightly better than not wearing pads at all. So those were out. No, I really, really wanted to find the leak-proof pads I had before.

But then by the time I had a chance to look again, B was getting close to being 16ish weeks and from what I remembered from the first time around, it was around four months when my boobs and my baby had worked out some sort of agreement - if you stop spraying me in the eye then I'll stop tugging on you like a baby bear eating a fresh-caught salmon. So then I was reluctant to keep looking because I expected the problem to resolve itself.

Well, guess what! Seems like the 2nd time around, the valves don't seal off quite as well and you continue to need nursing pads well into what are we at? Six months. Box after box of disposable nursing pads (oh, the landfills! oh, the dollars down the drain! oh, the crinkly sound they make that I swear everyone in the room can hear!) and I finally faced the fact that I needed to find those magical nursing pads that had been eluding me thus far. I resumed my determined search of non-cotton, non-crinkly, super-absorbent, leak-proof reusable nursing pads. And then I smacked my forehead with the heel of my hand and said Doh! I'd shopped these websites in the past six months and couldn't believe I'd missed them...

Here's what I found:
Knickernappies Stay Dry Nursing Pads - I love these. I got them in white but am considering getting them in an array of spring colors, just for shits and giggles. They're super absorbent, they're leak-proof, soft and unlike cotton, they don't stick to your nips. $9.99 for 3 pairs.

Snap-Ez - I also really like these. They come in an array of colors and are also soft and comfy. And if you're sleep-deprived and stupid, they call you and make sure that you don't plan on driving all the way from Lakewood, CO to Blaine, WA to pick up 2 pairs of nursing pads (like you said you would when you checked out) and they ship them to you anyway and trust that you'll pay for shipping later. That's customer service! $4/pair.

Meg A Roo's Design - Love these. I should have gone with the 5" regardless of what she specifies on her website about bra size, but I also wanted to see if there was a difference between 4" and 5". There is. The 5" sit further back in my bra (34B) and don't create the double bull's-eye effect through my shirt. The reason I really like these is because you can specify whatever color you'd like. I wanted black and brown ones and Meagan made them for me, lickity split. I highly recommend paying the extra dollar for velour. $3/pair
As a side-note: If you cloth diaper like we do, go ahead and order yourself and stack of her extended tab prefolds. They are quickly becoming my favorite diaper. I'll tell you more about them when I finally get around to writing up the one about cloth diapering.

Homestead Emporium - The ones I bought aren't listed right now, but I got the bamboo velour super soaker pads and these are the Cadillac of nursing pads. They are a bit pricier, but totally worth it. They're tear-drop shaped (hide better in your bra) and they have two darts in them so that they form more of a cup, which really does make a difference. They hail from Canada, so they took a little longer to get here, but they were worth the wait. $9/pair

So which ones would I buy if I were you? To tell you the truth, it would depend on the circumstances...if I was pregnant for the first time and planned hoped to have more, then I would definitely go with the HEs. And I'd get a good four or five pairs. Hell, if I was pregnant for the 2nd time and knew I wasn't having more, I'd go with the HEs. They're sooooo nice. But if I was in a hurry to get them, I'd go with the Knickernappies or the Snap-Ez because the Meg A Roo's are made to order and the HE's take a while to cross the border from our friends up north. If I was looking for black and brown ones, then I'd go with the Megaroos. If I wanted less expensive white or light colors, I'd go with the Knickernappies, not because they're any better than the Snap-Ez, but because they're equal quality and they're cheaper. But if I wanted to pick out specific colors and thought it was worth the extra buck a pair, I'd go with the Snap-Ez over the Knickernappies. It just depends on what's important to you.

Regardless, you could go with any of the above and be happy. And no matter which ones you pick, you are doing a lot of very important things - you are supporting small business/WAHMs (work-at-home-moms, for you unenlightened), you are keeping disposable pads out of the landfills, you are keeping tons of money in your pockets, and most importantly of all, you're breast-feeding.