Breastfeeding Lifestyle: Helpful Gear and Systems to Support Life with Baby

Having my first baby resulted in a dramatic change of lifestyle for me. And navigating the breastfeeding lifestyle was full of challenges! Feeding schedules, spit up, being “on call” around the clock and almost always getting called in to duty every two to three hours.
Not to mention trying to figure out if the shirts I had in my closet worked for easy breastfeeding. A whole new set of bras, and leaking a lot of milk. All while trying to navigate postpartum body changes. And learn my new baby’s cues for hunger and tiredness.
I’ve written several posts on breastfeeding recently, which might be helpful for you if you are preparing to or are currently breastfeeding for the first time. The posts are full of information and lessons learned through my own four breastfeeding journeys.
The topics include:
Early Breastfeeding: 7 Tips for the First Six Weeks
Breastfeeding the First Three Months: Tips and Resources to Flourish
Breastfeeding Months Four to Six: Benefits, Helpful Tips, and Schedules
How to Survive Breastfeeding with Nipple Vasospasms
The biggest and most significant piece of advice I give new moms in these posts (and in real life!) is figuring out how to latch the baby and dealing with any pain in early breastfeeding. I also offer tips on the baby’s sleep to make breastfeeding a baby sustainable and enjoyable.
But there are a few things I’ve found helpful beyond knowing how often to feed my baby, what the baby’s sleep patterns will look like, and specific developmental milestones to expect during different months.
Those helpful things are resources and systems to help support breastfeeding a baby as a lifestyle.

Baby gear that supports a breastfeeding lifestyle:
I’ll start with baby gear that I’ve found to be helpful for a breastfeeding lifestyle, as well as just in general making life easier with a baby.
Sound machine:
I mentioned this in some of my other posts, but it’s worth repeating here: we love our sound machine. Having white (or brown) noise helps everyone get better sleep and muffles other noises. So it’s super helpful for life with a baby in the house in general.
But I have found it also very helpful for breastfeeding a baby for a few reasons.
- If you sleep with the baby in your room (which IS recommended for all babies like I talk about in my post on making a Tiny Baby Nursery in a Small House, but especially helpful for breastfeeding a baby), having a sound machine will help YOU get better sleep at night.
Babies are noisy, and when they are sleeping in the same room as you, if you don’t have something to muffle their noises, you hear EVERY snort, snuffle, whimper, and squeak. Having a constant, soothing noise has been key to getting adequate sleep with a baby in my room. - Sound machines are helpful to nurse a distracted, social baby. Since our home has other kids being active during the day, I’ve found using a sound machine very helpful for keeping my baby focused on nursing during the day time.
When baby Thad (currently 8 months old) is having a particularly distracted day, wanting to pop off and see what his siblings are doing, I find feeding him in the room where he slept helpful. I get him up out of his hammock, and keeping the sound machine going, I nurse him before I take him to join the other kids.
I love having our large, “bass-y” sound machine as well as a rechargeable portable one to take with us.

Ergo Baby Carrier:
For me, a breastfeeding lifestyle means I need to be able to bring my baby with me wherever I go. And since I need my hands free with other kids, I need a good baby carrier.
I love my Ergo baby carrier, and I find I’m actually using it more than ever with baby #4. I have figured out how to breastfeed in the Ergo while I’m on the go, and that is a game changer!
Since I have bigger kids that have a lot of energy, I can go on walks or be out with them and be able to breastfeed.
I probably wouldn’t walk around in a really crowded place nursing the baby in a carrier, but when we’re out in nature on a walk or at the beach, it’s a handy way to be slightly less tied down and make a breastfeeding lifestyle work for our family.
One way I do it is I hold the baby in a cradle hold with the ergo strapped on at my waist, and then pull the arm straps up over my arms with the baby’s body cross-wise inside the carrier to help support the baby’s weight.
If I was nursing the baby on my left side, his head would be peaking out on that side of the carrier, and his feet would both be kicking out the other side.
Or I put the baby in the ergo front or hip carrying, and then just pull my shirt down and unclip my bra to give the baby access. This only works with stretchy, scoop neck shirts, though!
Either way, having a good baby carrier that you can also figure out how to nurse in is SO helpful.

Lovey or Other Comfort Item:
We had a friend give us a lovey (actually, three identical loveys) when our oldest was a year old. It was an extremely helpful gift! Particularly having duplicates of the same lovey!
Our second never bonded as much with the lovey I got for her, but she did bond to her blanket.
So whether it is a blanket or a lovey, I have found it helpful to start getting my breastfed babies attached to an item that can bring them comfort even when they aren’t with me.
Initially, I do this by just holding the item next to me when I’m breastfeeding them. I keep it near the baby when they’re having floor time, and bring it in the car, and generally keep it close. This is really natural with swaddle blankets, as I use them as burp rags also.
I want the comfort item to become very familiar and even to start to smell like Mama.
Once they’re about six or seven months old, I begin to give the baby the lovey to sleep with at night. This is still when they are breastfeeding at night, so it’s a gradual transition. But eventually, the babies seem to start to associate the comfort item with bringing them comfort in the night and that seems to help them resettle.
Since I don’t use pacifiers once my babies are about 6 weeks old, this seems to be a nice transition item to help bring comfort while also not interfering with their nursing frequency and therefore my supply. That’s a win for maintaining a breastfeeding lifestyle!

Clothing that Supports a Breastfeeding Lifestyle:
While I am a pretty minimalist person, and I don’t think you NEED a lot of clothing for breastfeeding, I have found a few things WELL worth the investment.
I don’t love breastfeeding shirts or sweatshirts, as they are often made to also accommodate your body during pregnancy, and I am usually ready to be DONE with my maternity clothes once I’ve had the baby!
But nursing bras have been absolutely key in helping me manage my nipple vasospasms and nipple pain. So they are essential for helping me breastfeed, long term, successfully.
Medela Sleep Bras:
I’ve probably spent a small fortune on these bras over the years. I think they saved my breastfeeding experience with Mara, and they’ve been supporting me (pun totally intended) through every pregnancy and breastfeeding experience since!
They are SO comfortable. I wear them 100% of the time in early postpartum, and then as sleep bras through the rest of my breastfeeding journey. I wear a size large.
For reference, I’m usually a 32D (when not pregnant or breastfeeding – that typically goes up to a 34DD when breastfeeding). In my judgement, they run a little small.
I suggest buying at least two. Seriously, I wear them on rotation. They’re the best. Well worth it to maintain a breastfeeding lifestyle.
Mumcozy Clip Down Bras:
This brand and style of bra is my go-to everyday bra once I’m past those early postpartum days. I have a size large for the first 5 or 6 months of breastfeeding, and then I have two size mediums that I switch to once my supply is well regulated and my cup size starts to go back toward normal.
I love that they are padded but without underwire, and the fabric is super soft and comfortable.
They’ve lasted for me fairly well, as I bought my large one when I was early postpartum with Baby #3. I’ve worn it all through that postpartum and off and on up until about a year after he was born.
And then as soon as I was pregnant with baby #4, I went back to wearing it regularly all through pregnancy and through postpartum up until now.
It’s gotten a LOT of use in the past 2 and a half years. I’m just starting to reach for other bras first, now that my body is starting to feel a bit more non-pregnant “normal”. And I noticed it was starting to have some wear marks.
But overall, it’s still got life left in it, and it’s been a real work horse!
I recommend starting with one during pregnancy, and then you can plan to get a second one a little later on.

Cadenshae Nursing Sports Bras:
I discovered this brand after I had baby #2 and was trying to get back into working out regularly. Since I live in New Zealand, and Cadenshae are designed and headquartered here, I started getting them used from other moms off of facebook marketplace.
They are on the expensive side buying new, but I watch for sales and check the clearance periodically when my bought-used bras are starting to fall apart!
My favorite styles so far are their Freedom Bra (with the option to have the straps straight or crossed), and their Everyday Bra. I have a medium and a small in the Everyday bra, and a Medium in the Freedom bra.
If you are wanting to get a bit more physically active and are looking for a bit more support but want bras that are designed to not clog ducts and have easy breastfeeding access, these are great options.
I found the simple act of getting dressed in the morning in a bra that I could wear all day AND do a workout in super helpful for lowering the barriers to prioritize physical movement each day while still breastfeeding a baby 5-7 times per 24 hours.
If you are a physical active person, I recommend getting one breastfeeding sports bra to help you be able to work physical activity into your life even while breastfeeding.
Breastfeeding Friendly Dresses for a Breastfeeding Lifestyle:
I’m not a wear-a-dress-everyday kind of person, but I do like to have the option to wear dresses. I invested in a breastfeeding dress with discreet nursing access when I had my first baby, and it is still going strong!
Unfortunately, I can’t find it on Amazon any more.
But I also have several button up and v-neck wrap dresses that work well for breastfeeding. They aren’t quite as discreet, so if you want maximum discretion, I’d suggest getting an actual breastfeeding dress.
Otherwise, regular clothes can totally work for breastfeeding, and button up or v-neck dresses don’t have to be breastfeeding specific.
Moolk is an Australia company that I like the look of that makes clothes for breastfeeding but they’re really just regular clothes you could wear long after breastfeeding is over.
Either way, having some clothing that is nicer than just t-shirts or athletic tank tops helps you feel more free to attend social events, even while breastfeeding a baby.

Household Management Ideas that Support a Breastfeeding Lifestyle:
The reality is, when you are breastfeeding (especially in the early days), you spend a LOT of time sitting with a baby attached to you.
So anything you can do to help streamline your home and household responsibilities so you can do that sitting and feeding without feeling stressed is a GOOD idea!
These are some strategies that I’ve learned to implement to help support a breastfeeding lifestyle and make it sustainable for the duration of my breastfeeding goals.
Simple Dinners or Make-Ahead Dinners:
I do a combination of simple dinners, crockpot meals, and batching cooking to freeze meals in order to simplify getting dinner on the table every night.
Since I cook about 95% of our meals at home, mostly from scratch, food administration could take up a LOT of my time.
I’ve learned to simplify while still trying to maintain nutritious, wholesome foods.
If you want to dive into this more, I’ve written this post about how to organize your small freezer to maximize your ability to store pre-made food in it. I also have this post on different simple dinner ideas, specifically in the winter.
I use my crockpot a LOT for making dinner or components of dinner. Since morning (after breakfast) is usually a relatively calm time of day for me, I use that window of time to chop veggies or prep food to bake for dinner.
And I use my crockpot for overnight cooking as well. Probably 2 or 3 nights per week I’ll start something in the crock pot before I go to bed. I like cooking a whole chicken this way, or cooking dried beans (such as chickpeas, black beans, kidney beans, or pinto beans) to utilize in a recipe the next day.
Once a month, I try to plan a day for cooking as well. I’ll make triple or quadruple quantities of several different recipes. I recently did it for this month, and I made chicken and rice casserole, sheet pan fajitas, beef barley soup, vegetarian red Thai curry, and pizza crust for homemade pizza.
This is an easy way to have one to three dinners per week pre-made and just needing to be thawed and heated up. Or quickly assembled.

Feeding Essentials List
I’ve found having a “feeding essentials list” in mind helpful for when I grab the baby to feed it.
- Use the toilet BEFORE picking up the baby. Inevitably, when I sit down and start to nurse the baby, I’ll need to pee!
- Fill water bottle BEFORE picking up the baby. Like needing to pee, I almost always realize I am THIRSTY when I sit down to feed the baby.
- Grab a burp rag/blanket for mopping up spills BEFORE sitting down to feed the baby. I usually wrap my babies in a blanket when they sleep, and I usually feed a baby right after it wakes up from sleeping.
So this is typically just a matter of bringing the blanket along to wherever I sit down to nurse. I tend to use the same blanket all day long, letting it accumulate spit up and milk spills, and then I toss it into the washer at night. - Keep a phone charger cord near your favorite breastfeeding spots. While I try to wean myself off of using my phone once the baby hits about six months, for those early days of breastfeeding, the phone is a great way to either be productive during feeding time, or at least amused.
I like to listen to podcasts, respond to emails, or catch up on social media when I’m nursing. Just don’t zone out too long and let the baby fall back asleep at the breast or the eat-wake-sleep cycle gets all messed up!

Breakfast and Lunch Rotations to Simplify a Breastfeeding Lifestyle
To keep life simple and allow me to focus on feeding the baby as part of my breastfeeding lifestyle, and to help my husband know what meals we’re planning for what days, I keep a breakfast and lunch rotation list visible on our fridge.
Like I wrote about in my post on minimizing time in the kitchen as a mom, breakfast and lunch are pretty simple in our house.
Breakfast is often oatmeal, yogurt and granola parfaits, granola with milk, sheet pan eggs and bread, or Swedish Sheetpan Pancakes on Saturdays. Lunch is typically leftovers, some kind of simple sandwich, or some kind of wrap.
Keeping meals simple and regular make breastfeeding easier since my husband knows how to make all of those meals, and my two daughters can put together several of them as well.
If we can get everyone in the house fed smoothly, even if I need to sit and breastfeed the baby for 20-30 minutes, that really helps take the stress out of daily life routines, which in turn helps make breastfeeding more sustainable and less stressful.

Designated Tidy Times and Cleaning Day
Having a messy house feels stressful for me, and stress is not conducive to a breastfeeding lifestyle!
But when breastfeeding, I find I often spot the mess that is tucked under the couch, the sticky fingerprints on the window, or the dirty cup behind the potted plant when I’m sitting down to feed the baby.
So I’ve developed specific times of day when I do a sweep of the common area and clean up any dirty plates and cups or cutlery. I do a house re-set when I put the baby down for their (first) after-lunch nap.
And I clean the house (for me, that means vacuum and mop our floors, clean the bathroom mirror and sink, and the toilet first, and then any other cleaning tasks that I’ve noticed that are bothering me) once a week.
I do the basic every day: wiping down counters, cleaning up spills and splashes, and doing a quick vacuum with the handheld vacuum under the toddler’s eating zone after most meals.
But the extra dirt on the rug? That waits until my weekly cleaning day. The dust bunnies collecting under the couch? Cleaning day. The fingerprints on the windows in the living room? Cleaning day.
If I have time.
Otherwise, when breastfeeding, I try to practice the art of letting some things go. I remind myself this isn’t forever, it’s just for this season when I’m doing a part to full time job of breastfeeding a baby.
Being present and attentive and interactive with my baby is more important than having a house that is ALWAYS as clean as I’d like it to be!

Laundry and Clothes Storage Systems
An important part of a breastfeeding lifestyle for me is managing our family’s laundry. If I have laundry stacked up everywhere, I don’t have anywhere to sit to feed the baby!
I’ve found doing one load of laundry per day typically takes care of all our laundry needs.
We typically load our clothes directly into the washing machine once something is dirty. I put all whites and colors in together and I don’t hand wash anything.
I do use cloth diapers, so if something is disgustingly dirty (like puke or poo on it), it goes into the diaper pail to be washed with the dirty diapers on a hot wash.
At the end of the day, my husband or I (whichever is showering last in the day) add laundry soap, set the washing machine to a warm wash, close up the washing machine, and set it to delay start about 5am.
As part of our get-going-for-the-day routine, we switch dry clothes out of the dryer, and move wet clothes into the dryer. The laundry from the previous day goes onto the dining room table, and I fold it throughout the morning.
We limit clothes to what EASILY fits in the clothing storage spots. I use an open shelf system with baskets for the kids’ clothes and for most of my own clothing as well.
For the three older kids, each child has one large basket for tops and bottoms, and a smaller basket for undies. There’s one communal basket for all socks for the kids, since our three older kids have very similar foot size.
I also have baskets for the babies clothes.
So nothing needs to be folded too particularly, and the kids can help with folding and putting away since they know what goes in which basket.

Suggestions to Support a Breastfeeding Lifestyle when Out and About
Feeding when you are out and around other people can be tricky to get the hang of. Especially when the baby is very small and you need to be very hands-on for latching. Or when the baby has become very social!
Everyone has their own level of modesty in their breastfeeding lifestyle, and I think of myself as being somewhere in the middle ground. I am very comfortable breastfeeding the baby wherever I am when the baby is hungry: sitting in church, at a soccer game, at a coffee shop, or while walking a trail while my older kids ride bikes.
But I do try to keep some discretion while feeding in any of those locations!
I have a breastfeeding cover that lives in the back of my car. (Along with an emergency stash of diapers, wipes, and a change of clothes for the baby). But I honestly don’t use it all that often anymore.
Instead, I usually just use a swaddle blanket. I prefer the soft, cotton jersey, extra large (47 inch by 47 inch) by Max and Moose, but since they are not the cheapest, I work with whatever I’ve got!
The blanket serves both to keep body parts that I’m not comfortable flashing around a bit more under wraps, as well as a burp rag if needed.
And when my baby is older and a bit more social, having a portable sound machine can be helpful for minimizing distractions. Even if sometimes it is easier to just go to the car to feed the baby!

Breastfeeding with an older child (or children) around:
If you’ve got other kids in the house, a breastfeeding lifestyle can also be tricky!
I have found breastfeeding a baby has been a great time for my older kids to gain some capabilities and independence, which is awesome because it leads to greater confidence.
I try to set up the house to support the kids being able to meet their own common “needs.”
Water/drinks: our kids have relatively large water bottles that they drink out of throughout the day. With stools on hand, kids can reach water sources quite young. They will often bring me their empty water bottle while I’m nursing the baby to take off the lid so they can go fill up their own water.
Snacks: I’m not the biggest snack person, but I also try to keep cut veggies in the fridge for when my kids think they are starving and cannot possibly make it to the next meal! The carrot sticks or cucumber slices are usually in glass jars in our fridge, often inside a “snack basket.”
The kids can grab a jar out of the fridge and bring it to me to open while I’m breastfeeding the baby if need.
Activities: I try to keep art supplies where the kids can reach them themselves (colored pencils and paper, specifically). I also keep books from the library in a basket that is easily accessible, and we do a LOT of reading books together while I’m breastfeeding a baby.
And we keep some toys in the kids’ room and some out in the common area, so I can point and send a toddler to go fetch some cars from the basket in the living room while I supervise.

Support Your Breastfeeding Lifestyle by Looking Back to Mark Your Success
It’s easy to set big goals (ie: I’m going to breastfeed to 2 years) and then be discouraged if you don’t make the goals. But something I’ve picked up from the Now That We’re a Family Podcast is the idea of marking success by looking backward.
Success really isn’t whether you’ve made it TO a specific goal as much as it is making progress TOWARD that goal. I think this is especially true with a breastfeeding lifestyle.
My encouragement would be, if you’ve made it a week into breastfeeding, celebrate that accomplishment! The first week is HARD! If you’ve made it a month, that is AWESOME! The first month is definitely a lot of effort. If you’ve made it to 3 months, you’ve done GREAT and you’ve worked through the hardest part of breastfeeding.
I hope you continue breastfeeding as long as you and your baby want! My desire in doing this breastfeeding series is to help see some of the statistics of breastfeeding change.
In the USA, 83.2% of babies initiate breastfeeding at birth, and that number is down to 24.9% by the time babies have reached 6 months (United States Breastfeeding Committee).
While there are a LOT of factors involved in those statistics, including appalling paid parental leave practices in the United States, some of the most commonly cited reasons for stopping breastfeeding have to do with things that are probably preventable with a more robust community support from other breastfeeding moms.
Since 60% of mothers report they did not breastfeed as long as they desired, it seems that there is a place for moms to be supporting and encouraging other moms in the area of breastfeeding.
I’d love to hear from you!
If you’re intending to breastfeed or are currently living a breastfeeding lifestyle, I’d love to hear from you in the comments below! What has been the hardest stage of breastfeeding for you? What are your goals for breastfeeding? I’d be delighted to read your thoughts and experiences.
In the mean time, I wish you the BEST of luck on your breastfeeding lifestyle journey!