DIY Cloth Nursing Pads

Preface: I'm sure this is TMI, but I produce milk like a cow. Apparently I was created to have babies and nurse them. Seriously, my milk supply is ridiculous. I don't say that to brag as I have many many friends who sadly are unable to nurse due to a low milk supply (among other reasons), but I'm just telling you so you understand my need to make my own nursing pads.

Ok, read on....

With my first child, I used disposable nursing pads. I don't even want to think about how much money we wasted on those things. BUT I thought the reusable ones were too expensive. Since, you know, I went through probably 24 a day.

With my second child, I used a mixture of both. Primarily the tiny little Gerber reusables. But I had to do laundry CONSTANTLY and I still never had enough. So then I would switch to disposable. Again, big money waster.

With my third child, I think I almost exclusively used the few Gerber reusables that I had left. But by this time, they had mostly gone missing and I found myself using burp clothes as a substitute. (Don't laugh - I'm serious!)

When I got pregnant with my fourth child, I thought....There HAS to be a better way! I had a friend who had purchased some handmade cloth nursing pads online and she swore by them that they were way better than the store bought kind (and actually large enough too!), so I started to look into those. But the cost was ridiculous. At least, in my frugal mind.

So I did what I'm pretty well-known for doing when I think something is way overpriced. I decided to make some myself. I called Gretchen and asked her if she had any idea how to make nursing pads and she referred me to this DIY tutorial. It was exactly what I needed!

Since there's absolutely no reason for me to repeat the steps here, you can just go to that tutorial to see how I made them. Here are a few pictures of mine:

Having made these and used them now I can attest to the fact that these are INDEED far superior to the store bought kind and definitely better than the disposables. They are also, eh hem, much gentler on the skin. If you know what I'm sayin'.

These took me longer than I expected due to all the cutting and sewing, but it was well worth it. In fact, I only made about 14 and need some more so I just bought more flannel last night and am planning on making some more this week. (Yay! Flannel just happened to be 60% off at Joann!)

I highly highly highly recommend these.

Did I say highly?