Product Review: Bravado Designs Nursing Bras
I was contacted by Bravado Designs about doing a review of their nursing bras for my blog. As a long-time customer of theirs (they didn’t know this before contacting me), I was happy to be able to provide my readers with information on the bras that I already own and also try out the updated design for one of their bras (I was given one bra for free to review). The ones that I bought myself I purchased at Milkface and at Tickled Pink.
About the Product
Bravado Designs is a great company that makes bras and underwear for maternity and nursing.The company was started 17 years ago by two nursing mothers who hated the nursing bras they were wearing so much that they decided to design and make their own. Today Bravado is still owned and operated by two mothers (one just gave birth a few months ago!).
They have a wide range of products in different colours, including bras, underwear and tank tops. The designs range from very simple and plain to fancy and sexy in both the design and the fabric. I have tried three of their bras. For me comfort and being able to wear low-cut v-neck dresses and shirts factor into my choice of bras. The ones I’ve tried are:
- Original Nursing Bra: This is a cotton deep V bra with clips to let down the flaps. I have this one in three different colours.
- Body Silk Seamless Nursing Bra: This one has a very sporty feel to it and I often wore it on weekends under a t-shirt when chasing the kids around. It has removable foam cups, but I rarely used them and found it had enough support and shape without the cups.
- Lifestyle Microfiber Nursing Bra: I have this one in a beautiful pink colour! Just wearing it brightens up my day. It is comfortable and supportive and a little bit fancier than the other two that I own.
I definitely tend on the more casual end of their line in terms of the choices that I’ve made, but they also have bras with names like Exquisite, Allure and Sublime that look like they fit those descriptions.
What I Liked
There are some great features on the Bravado nursing bras:
- All of the ones I have are extremely comfortable. I almost cried when I started shopping for regular bras again recently because everything I tried on was so uncomfortable compared with my Bravado nursing bras. All of them are soft and supportive, but my absolute favourite for comfort is the Body Silk Seamless Nursing Bra.
- Most other nursing bras have a second layer under the flap that has a hole in it that your nipple sticks out of for nursing. The Bravado bras don’t have that additional flap underneath. I found that made it much easier to access the breast for nursing, to do skin to skin while nursing (rather than skin to fabric), and also to be able to position horns properly for pumping.
- The Original Nursing bra in particular was the only bra I could wear under a lot of my v-neck t-shirts and dresses. When I go to weddings while nursing, I always wear a dress with a deep V that allows me to easily nurse out of the top of the dress. I usually bring a sling or a scarf to cover up a bit, but the combination of the low-cut dress and the Bravado bra make nursing in style really easy.
- The Body Silk Seamless Nursing Bra was great under tank tops. It is cut low in the front and the back and is seamless, so it hides nicely under a fitted tank top.
- The clips on their bras are flatter than on a lot of others, so you don’t see them sticking up as much under shirts as the clips on other nursing bras.
What I Didn’t Like
I only had one real complaint about the Bravado bras that I bought a few years ago and it has been resolved with their latest design update. The clips a few years ago were snaps instead of clips and there wasn’t anywhere for me to clip my hands free pumping setup (hair elastic technique) to. But the updated design for their bras uses a flatter version of traditional nursing bra clips and it works with my pumping set-up.
One more thing that is not really a complaint, but more of a word of caution, is to consider the back of the bra when deciding whether you can wear it under that great dress. The back of the Original Nursing Bra comes up quite high which is great for providing support, but I got stuck once having to borrow a bra from my sister to wear to a wedding because the bra that I had carefully chosen for its deep V in the front came up so high in the back that it was showing in the back of the dress.
Recommendation
Bravado’s business is nursing bras. It isn’t something they do on the side like so many other companies that make nursing bras. They test their product on hundreds of pregnant and nursing moms each year and one of their founders is in the process of becoming a lactation consultant. This really shows through in both their product. Their bras are by far the best of all of the nursing bras I have tried.
Giveaway
Bravado has kindly offered up an Original Nursing Bra to one of my readers. To qualify for this contest, please leave a comment below with a link to your favourite blog post about breastfeeding and a note explaining why you like it. It can be one of your own or one someone else has written (even one of mine if you like!). The winner will be chosen randomly. The contest closes on August 25, 2009 and is open to residents of Canada and the United States.
In addition to my giveaway, you can also participate in a giveaway on the Bravado site for over $2100 in prizes, including a maternity and nursing wardrobe from Bravado and a ton of other mom and baby realted prizes from itsabelly.
{ 42 comments… read them below or add one }
Okay, so I haven’t read any nursing blog posts but yours (and I just discovered you last week via Twitter), but my favorite post is definitely the one you pointed out ot me about nursing and airplanes: http://www.phdinparenting.com/2008/09/13/breastfeeding-on-an-airplane-the-collection/. I also liked the Nursing in Public post a lot.
http://www.cafemom.com/journals/read/1502195/PIOG_Breastfeeding_Offensive
this is my favorite post about breastfeeding because it so gracefully summarizes the ridiculous nature of the argument that breastfeeding is obscene. i like it because it hits right at the heart of the argument by the simple juxtaposition of “vulgar breastfeeding” and pop culture, which is clearly less discreet.
One of my favorite breastfeeding posts is your story – http://www.phdinparenting.com/2008/12/29/our-breastfeeding-story/ – because I really respect all you endured to breastfeed. Nursing my first child was a painful, gut-wrenching, tear inducing experience for about the first six weeks. I too pumped and fed from a bottle when I just couldn’t take the pain anymore. I searched message boards, contacted a LLL leader and at about 3 weeks old I went to a lactation specialist at a local hospital. It was the best thing I have ever done. (At the time, my delivery hospital didn’t have any sort of support) She helped me with positioning, helped me relax, set me up with Soothies and a nipple shield and around six weeks we got the hang of it. He could latch on without me sobbing and I weaned him from the nipple shield around 8 weeks old. He nursed until he was 16 months old and by then end I was sad for him to stop. If I wasn’t so worried about what others thought at that point in my life, I probably would have nursed him longer. When #2 was born this past December, I was prepared. I had my nipple shield and Soothies all ready to go. I tried au natural, but I think I must just be a tenderfoot at first (and I have aggressive/ravenous babies
because I started having the same problems as with #1, but I nipped it in the bud. Also, my hospital now had 2 full-time LC at the hospital that came in a couple times a day to check on me. They helped me with different holds/positions. When I got home I’d get her to latch on the with shield and then once she was going, I’d pull it off and have her relatch. We got the hang of it within 3 weeks and she’s still nursing like a champ at 7 months. I have a sister-in-law that didn’t nurse her first 3 because she didn’t have the support and once she saw what I went through with my first and how I stuck it out and how wonderful the experience was, she breastfed her 4th for 18 months. It was awesome! However, my other SIL had a tongue tied baby, didn’t get the support, and gave up. I showed her this post and she has greater hope that with the right support she can breastfeed her next child. Thanks!
My fave bfing post was http://www.hobomama.com/2009/08/starting-breastfeeding-right-with.html . I didn’t have a “babymoon” – my Lily was born the weekend before Thanksgiving and my inlaws decided to come crash at our pad and make me play hostess
Luckily, Lily was a natural and things worked without having to, well, work! I’m hoping that with the next baby I’ll be brave enough to put my foot down and say “I need a week to recover and just nurse my baby”.
Here’s a link to my breastfeeding story. My baby was born a month early, weighing (probably) under 5 pounds, and we had a hell of a time getting started:
http://whozatshrike.blogspot.com/2009/05/my-breastfeeding-story.html
Hi there! I haven’t written my own breastfeeding story yet – it just started less than two weeks ago, so it’s still in the works… In the meantime, my favourite is Melodie’s “The Princess and the Chick Pea” http://www.breastfeedingmomsunite.com/2009/07/the-princess-and-the-chick-pea-and-the-grape-and-the-walnut/
Thanks!
CaroLyn.
Please enter me! I’ve written a few posts on breastfeeding and can’t say that any of them are as great as yours.
But I pick this one http://thoughts-of-home.blogspot.com/2008/04/looking-to-science-for-norm.html because it deals with babies needing to nurse at night time and our acceptance of that in parenthood and society.
I have always wanted to try out one of these bras!
This recent ad was posted on a blog and I thought it was perfect!
http://phdoula.blogspot.com/2009/08/you-want-my-mommy-to-feed-me-where.html
Like Carolyn above, I haven’t yet written my own bfeeding story, unless you count a blogpost where I talk about my decision to show more boob over showing any stomach (the constant ‘pull the shirt down and pop boob out, or pull shirt up and expose post-baby belly’ debate), but one of my very favourite bfeeding blogposts is the princess and the chickpea as well: http://www.breastfeedingmomsunite.com/2009/07/the-princess-and-the-chick-pea-and-the-grape-and-the-walnut/
It gives me such great imagery to help support friends and family members in the early days of breastfeeding.
The blog world has actually really helped me to push through all the difficult breastfeeding times. I read peoples post and I can relate and know that I am not the only one struggling with certain breastfeeding issues, and that if I just bear through them they WILL get better. I could not pick a favorite, but I really liked this post from you http://www.phdinparenting.com/2009/06/15/would-you-could-you-breastfeed-in-public/ I struggled with breastfeeding in public, so I really enjoyed this post from you. My baby is 6 months old and I hope to win a new nursing bra, because I hope to breastfeed for much longer, still. I have a Bravado nursing tank top, and I LOVE it!! I use it all the time, I love that I can nurse in public, but my tummy does not show!
What a great giveaway! I too love my Bravado nursing bra.
I think my favourite breastfeeding entry is this one on why I chose to continue to breastfeed my toddler. It was a difficult choice at times because we very much wanted a second child, but breastfeeding was preventing my fertility from returning. It didn’t return until 21 months post-partum, and I am grateful that I chose to push through. It was rarely easy, emotionally, due to the fertility issue, but it was entirely worth it.
This is my favorite link- as a mama to be- I am trying to learn as much as I can
http://www.hobomama.com/2009/08/starting-breastfeeding-right-with.html
An exciting giveaway! I have only one good nursing bra so far and would LOVE to try a new Bravado. Here’s a post from my blog several months ago about my frustration with pumping after returning to work and the wonder that is fenugreek.
http://web.mac.com/propsons/iWeb/Site/The%20Propson%20Pen/D118FCAD-C568-480E-BE01-CFB01BB9486D.html
This is my own story: http://dou-la-la.blogspot.com/2009/08/our-nursing-saga.html
But my official entry is for Katie Allison Granju’s staggeringly brilliant piece on Babble. It puts the “breastfeeding backlash” – revolving around but not limited to the infamous Rosin piece – in perfect perspective. Very much like a lot of young women dissing feminism while reaping the benefits that their foremothers had worked so tirelessly to give them, Granju talks about just how far we’ve come over the last few decades, even, thanks to none other than the dreaded Lactivists. Her perspective is especially key as the mother of an 18 year old AND a two year old, so she’s seen the changes firsthand. Katie, I owe you. I can only hope to be some small but effective part of the third wave.
Here it is, “Confessions of a Proud Breastfeeding Zealot”: http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/homework/archive/2009/08/05/breastfeeding_2C00_-feminism_2C00_-activism.aspx
This is my current favorite breastfeeding blog entry: http://noirbettie.com/blog/?p=6017
It’s about weaning and the sorta bittersweetness to it all. I was pretty heartbroken at the end of my nursing time with my oldest daughter, so much so that I never wrote about it. Annika sums up that sorta “letting the kid self-wean but not quite ready yourself even when you are ready in other ways” feeling for me. It’s sorta the post I would have written a year ago when I fully weaned my kid but I couldn’t write it.
Now that I’m back to nursing with my newborn, I’m hoping to be more upfront on my blog about all of it, the good the bad the sad and the funny.
Great giveaway! One of my favorite breastfeeding blog posts is this one, a podcast interview with Kathi Barber who started the African-American Breastfeeding Alliance.
http://breastfeeding.blog.motherwear.com/2009/02/podcast-african-american-moms-and-breastfeeding.html In it she discusses the history of breastfeeding in the black community. The anecdotes about slaves and wet nursing during slavery were really interesting and may shed some light on why the breastfeeding rates are lower amongst black women.
Awesome giveaway! And one that is desperately needed by me
My favorite breastfeeding post of the moment has to be this one http://www.breastfeedingmomsunite.com/2009/08/a-conversation-about-breastfeeding-in-mongolia-and-jack-newman/. It made me laugh so hard and also made me wish that breastfeeding was so much more normalized here. Using our breasts to get the kids to stop fighting – can you imagine?! For all of our modernness I wish our culture was as accepting of breastfeeding as they are in Mongolia.
My favourite post is one that I have just read, on Cave Mother’s blog, called “Less Breastfeeding = More Babies”: http://cavemother.blogspot.com/2009/08/less-breastfeeding-more-babies.html
I like it because it’s fresh look at one of the advantage of breastfeeding, one that most people know about, but really doesn’t get talked about a lot. Breastfeeding IS nature’s birth control. It would have been inconceivable in the great old ages to have loads of kids barely a year apart – it would have been hard physically for the mother, and made it real hard to provide for all these children. In a way, it is like a natural selection for the human population. If more people exclusively breastfed, we might be able to help control Earth’s population, a little…
By the way, I also LOVE Bravado’s bras. I own a few of the Body Silk Seamless myself, and I still wear them now, even though our nursing days are over. I don’t think I will ever go back to regular bras, breastfeeding or not
Would love to try the Original one too!
Oh I LOVE Bravado bras — I have two & would be lost without them. So much comfort! So simple!
And for my entry — I read this article last night and it was really interesting. Gives a new take on breastfeeding from a culture I knew little about: http://www.breastfeedingmomsunite.com/2009/08/a-conversation-about-breastfeeding-in-mongolia-and-jack-newman/
http://www.girlsgonechild.net/2009/03/wean-girls.html
Rebecca was all “can’t can’t can’t” in past posts about breastfeeding … and I feel like this post said “did did doing”. And I just felt like SOMETHING must have shifted. I don’t know what it was … maybe community support this go around? Not sure. But it felt like something happened and that it was warm and woman-ly. And all the breastfeeding should be -> about connections.
http://puddle-jumping.com/2007/12/drunk-on-breast.html
This is my favorite breastfeeding post by default because, as it turns out, it’s my only breastfeeding post. Considering that we are still going strong at nearly 22 months, that seems a bit remiss. And, at 22 months, the bras have looked better.
(Never noticed the url before, hmm what happened there?)
Great giveaway! My favorite is one that is not educational, but perfectly catches a mood and a moment. Loved it when I read it, and it was the first one that I thought of when I read your post. http://www.adventuresinbabywearing.com/2009/06/i-just-nursed-ivy-that-kind-of-nurse.html
There is a lot of matierial to choose from, but one of my favorites is http://mothering.com/blogs/jennifer-james?page=1 featuring old photographs of women nursing in public.
This is one of yours that I really enjoyed!
http://www.phdinparenting.com/2009/02/07/breastfeeding-on-childrens-television/
So true, bottles are everywhere from cartoons and storybooks to dolls and even stuffed dogs and cats are packaged with bottles for “feeding”. I try to talk about it with my kids whenever it comes up. I’d love to see more breastfeeding out there!
I LOVE Bravado! bras!! I have a few tips on my blog and under “breastfeeding” I list Bravado! bras as the best bra ever. Like BUTTER.
My favorite bf’ing post might actually be yours (http://www.phdinparenting.com/2008/12/29/our-breastfeeding-story/). My story was completely opposite from start to finish, but I really connected with the tenaciousness of your spirit and I wholly appreciate the power of putting your experience into words. If my sister has problems with her newborn, I will be able to point her in your direction.
I think my favourite post is yours on what to do and not to do to support a breastfeeding mother. I’d like to give that to every pregnant woman or new mom that I know, and their families as well. I’ve been lucky that with both my kids I’ve had lots of support: my husband and family members really stepped up to make sure I had the time I needed to establish a good breastfeeding relationship. So many women don’t get that though, and they should.
I just discovered these bras and love them! I loke your nursing in public post with the beautiful photos!
I liked this post http://www.cafemom.com/journals/read/1502195/PIOG_Breastfeeding_Offensive because it uses pictures to make a point about what our culture finds offensive and shows how ridiculous it is!
I have one Bravado nursing bra and love it. Would love to have more! I wrote about extended breastfeeding here recently:
http://www.adventuresinbabywearing.com/2009/08/confessions-of-breastfeeding-mother.html
Nursing my baby is one of the biggest things I looked forward to most when pregnant. She’s almost one and I still love it so much- sometimes it’s the only gentle quiet time we get in the day.
Steph
I enjoyed your post “When to Give Up on Breastfeeding”. I think many women have circumstances that cause them to have problems breastfeeding.
http://www.phdinparenting.com/2009/03/08/when-to-give-up-on-breastfeeding/
mfalcon13 (at) hotmail (dot) com
I enjoyed your post for the Breastfeeding Carnival which played on green eggs and ham. BUT I really liked a post I recently wrote for WBW on how to nursing in public discreetly. I also filmed a video on how to nurse in an Ergo, which has saved my life. http://dirtydiaperlaundry.com/world-breastfeeding-week-how-to-nurse-in-public/
People have added some great posts, I need to look at them all now! Especially the one about breastfeeding and children’s tv. I recently contacted a company about this very thing. I am waiting to hear their response.
kdrosas at gmail dot com
i have to admit i haven’t read much about breastfeeding, even though i nursed all three of mine until at least 16 months. i have yet to find a nursing bra i really like even after three kids. maybe with number 4 i can find a good one! here is a post of yours that was helpful and interesting: http://www.phdinparenting.com/2009/08/04/breastfeeding-remove-the-booby-traps-with-best-for-babes/
thanks for the giveaway opportunity…
I really appreciated this article (http://www.passionatehomemaking.com/2009/07/increasing-milk-supply-homemade-mothers-milk-tea.html#comment-12879) from Passionate Homemaking about increasing milk supply with a special tea — and of course all the comments! I’m due with my first in a few weeks and am always interested in natural products to help make things work better!
I really liked this one http://www.mekeliki.com/behavior/breast-feeding-in-public/ It’s great to see supportive posts from men.
My favorite post, is actually just a photo from http://autodidactmama.blogspot.com/2009/08/nursling.html. I thought it was really precious, and showed that our babies aren’t “too big” to nurse once they hit 12 months!
I love my Bravado nursing bra!!
Even though it’s my own, I will link to this post about when my son was weaned. It’s a very bittersweet memory for me. http://alittlebitofmomsense.blogspot.com/2009/07/all-done.html
Hi I’d love to try this style of nursing bra!
I like this blog on breastfeeding
http://attachmentparenting.org/blog/2008/08/08/extended-breastfeeding/
I had planned to only nurse for one year but now I’ve continued on to 15 months and counting. Still loving the comfort I can see it gives my daughter after a long hard day (for both of us!)
thank you
My favourite post about breastfeeding is this one, entitled Joy and Pain written by Her Bad Mother. I like it because as a woman who is anticipating first-time breastfeeding with some trepidation, it reminds me that there is also a great deal of joy in the experience of nourishing one’s child. It reminds me that even if breastfeeding is difficult in the beginning, and I know that it will be, there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
You have a lot of great posts on breastfeeding, so it’s hard to pick a favorite. One that is particularly relevant to me now is your post on weaning: http://www.phdinparenting.com/2009/07/11/a-time-to-wean-your-opinion-others-opinions-and-how-to-deal/ I am currently nursing an 18 month old and this post has given me lots of good info on how to deal with the many people telling me that it’s enough already!
This post means a lot to me because pumping is a big part of my commitment to breastfeeding.
http://www.mommymelee.com/2009/08/ameda-im-purely-yours.html
She has FANTASTIC breastfeeding resources on her blog!!
http://metropolitanmama.net/2009/08/national-breastfeeding-awareness-month-resources/
Thank you to everyone for sharing your links. Congratulations to the winner: solemom.