Disposable or reusable breast pads and wipes?

[toratoratori]

I was hoping to do reusable breast pads and wipes with Baby Rogo, but I'm worried I'm going to go through a ridiculous number of them on any given day.

Do you guys use disposables or reusables? If disposables, are the breast pads compostable (I know the wipes won't be because of human waste)? If reusable, how many do I need to have so I'm not doing laundry every five minutes?

ETA: If you have favorite brands of cloth wipes and breast pads, recommend away! Also, solution for the cloth wipes, because I assume I should be using something slightly stronger than water.

[shevacc]

I had 4 dozen cloth wipes and 5 pairs of cloth breast pads. I liked disposable wipes but didn't like throwing them away nor having to find a trash can after changing a diaper. Plus I felt guilty smelling up trashcans out in public with poopy wipes. 4 dozen cloth wipes was plenty and I pretty much never ran out. They were cheap too, though I forget where I got them from. We bought one box of disposable wipes from Costco when G was born and are just finishing it now more than 2 years later so we really don't use them often. I've only used warm water (or cold water) with our cloth wipes or just used them dry once G was a bit older. I have a concentrated bottle that makes "wipe solution" that I bought from Green Mountain Diapers but never used it.

I tried using disposable breast pads and HATED them so just dealt with the 5 cloth pairs that I had. It wasn't really enough -- 8 to 10 pairs would've been better and I now have more for this go round, but 5 was manageable. I was doing laundry every other day for a while, anyway, at the same time I was leaking the heaviest. I did often leak through the cloth ones and carried an extra top for me for a while. But honestly even with that issue I just HATED the feel of the scratchy disposable ones in my bra.

[jennlin]

i didn't use cloth wipes (bad crunchy). i don't mind disposable too much, i just trash them during laundry day..and now that we're in poop scraping days, i use the disposable to scrape the poop and toss.

i used reusable breastpads. i think i had 13 official pairs, and then also the sewn up tshirts my mom made for me with bjl. this was just the right amount..sometimes you go through 2-3 sets an hour, sometimes 1 set lasts the whole day. i bought some cheap/cute ones on etsy.

[mrslefty]

I use cloth wipes, I think it's easier because I just throw them in a wet bag with everything else. I have a mix of cheap baby wash clothes and flannel wipe. Probably 40 total. We never get close to running out. I have These wipes

I don't leak until he starts crying and then only if he's gone a long stretch with no food so I'm no help with the breast pads.

[mrslefty]

Oh! I have two boxes of breast pads. Want me to send them to you? A friend who never needed them gave them to me and I haven't needed them

[dana86]

I used disposable for both. Lansinoh brand breast pads and I swear by Costco's Kirkland brand wipes.

[7costanza]

Laundry was the last thing I wanted to do with a tiny baby, so I used disposable for both. I did actually have a few pairs or reusable pads I used for sleep, because I found the disposables to be too scratchy for my suddenly very sensitive skin. They did not hold much milk though so I would wear reusable pad, sports/nursing sleep bra, then disposable nursing pads, and snug tank top. It was a pain and hard to get used to, but anything touching my nips was unbearable for quite a while.

Oh, the nursing pads don't seem biodegradable at all. Sorry environment.

[toratoratori]

Jul 31, 2014 15:57:55 GMT -5 mrslefty said:

Oh! I have two boxes of breast pads. Want me to send them to you? A friend who never needed them gave them to me and I haven't needed them

Sure! I'll take whatever I can get I'll PM you my address.

[Deleted]

I don't CD but regarding breast pads- the most comfortable brand I have found is the Johnson and Johnson kind in a pink box. Everything else seemed scratchy but these are soft and thicker.

[toratoratori]

Jul 31, 2014 14:29:21 GMT -5 jennlin said:

i didn't use cloth wipes (bad crunchy). i don't mind disposable too much, i just trash them during laundry day..and now that we're in poop scraping days, i use the disposable to scrape the poop and toss.

i used reusable breastpads. i think i had 13 official pairs, and then also the sewn up tshirts my mom made for me with bjl. this was just the right amount..sometimes you go through 2-3 sets an hour, sometimes 1 set lasts the whole day. i bought some cheap/cute ones on etsy.

That's a good idea. It seems like it would be way easier than the whole toilet hose situation that a lot of people have recommended to me.

[toratoratori]

Jul 31, 2014 23:13:27 GMT -5 7costanza said:

Laundry was the last thing I wanted to do with a tiny baby, so I used disposable for both. I did actually have a few pairs or reusable pads I used for sleep, because I found the disposables to be too scratchy for my suddenly very sensitive skin. They did not hold much milk though so I would wear reusable pad, sports/nursing sleep bra, then disposable nursing pads, and snug tank top. It was a pain and hard to get used to, but anything touching my nips was unbearable for quite a while.

Oh, the nursing pads don't seem biodegradable at all. Sorry environment.

Good lord. I'm not even sure I have enough clothes to make this work.

[7costanza]

Jul 31, 2014 23:25:49 GMT -5 toratoratori said:

Jul 31, 2014 23:13:27 GMT -5 7costanza said:

Laundry was the last thing I wanted to do with a tiny baby, so I used disposable for both. I did actually have a few pairs or reusable pads I used for sleep, because I found the disposables to be too scratchy for my suddenly very sensitive skin. They did not hold much milk though so I would wear reusable pad, sports/nursing sleep bra, then disposable nursing pads, and snug tank top. It was a pain and hard to get used to, but anything touching my nips was unbearable for quite a while.

Oh, the nursing pads don't seem biodegradable at all. Sorry environment.

Good lord. I'm not even sure I have enough clothes to make this work.

It was super annoying! And pre-baby I slept topless, so it was really uncomfortable too. Now I'm down to just a nursing bra at night, and hope to get back to topless sleeping some day. Part of my issue too is that my boobs are now much less perky, so I was not used to the feeling of them resting on my rib cage (or huge belly, which was sadly holding them up) and flopping all around. Sorry for the tmi! I did manage with just one sleeping bra though.

[mrslefty]

Jul 31, 2014 23:25:49 GMT -5 toratoratori said:

Jul 31, 2014 23:13:27 GMT -5 7costanza said:

Laundry was the last thing I wanted to do with a tiny baby, so I used disposable for both. I did actually have a few pairs or reusable pads I used for sleep, because I found the disposables to be too scratchy for my suddenly very sensitive skin. They did not hold much milk though so I would wear reusable pad, sports/nursing sleep bra, then disposable nursing pads, and snug tank top. It was a pain and hard to get used to, but anything touching my nips was unbearable for quite a while.

Oh, the nursing pads don't seem biodegradable at all. Sorry environment.

Good lord. I'm not even sure I have enough clothes to make this work.

I think going from sleeping in my undies to a nursing tank has been one of the hardest changes for me. I hate sleeping with clothing because I get twisted up. 
Also beware of the shower.  That bitch hurts. 

[cdmay]

We use both cloth and disposable wipes. Squirt bottle with water and cloth wipes are my go-to, but sometimes I'll use disposable.
Early on I think disposable wbeast pads are a good idea so your shirt isn't always soaked (they hold more liquid). I switched to cloth after a while and it worked great bc I had three pairs and could wear one a day with time to wash. They are softer than disposable , but not waterproof. They do not stay in place when you sold down the bra/tank, bit do stay in place between nursing sessions.

[stretchad]

I use disposable wipes. no way I was doing washable ones. For breast pads, I used lansinoh disposable pads at first but they were just too itchy. I bought bamboobies instead and they were awesome! I would recommend them for reusable breast pads.

[katie4253]

We used baby washcloths for wipes. They worked great. I just carried bottle with water for the wipes.

I never leaked. So, I didn't use pads. We had some disposables. But I hardly used any.

[tcu2003]

I don't usually post here, but the thread title made me want to pop in for a recommendation. I've tried 3 or 4 reusable breast pads, and hands down, Bamboobies are my favorite. I probably have 10 pairs of the daytime/regular ones and a few of the overnights (these days I just wear the daytime one overnight as well, but needed the thicker ones when DS was younger). I also think right now they maybe doing a free pair on their website as a promo for World Breastfeeding Week - you just have to pay the $2.95 S&H. It's only one per address/CC, though.

[angelinmind]

I used disposable breast pads specifically the medela ones. It was just so much easier as I was leaking a whole lot.