Q&A: breast pads (specifically Lilypadz)

Daphne (who is newly pregnant and either a market researcher or product liability lawyer, judging from her questions) writes:

"So. Lilypadz. Any specific feedback you can give me that would be enlightening? 

How long have you been using them? Months? A year? 2 Years?
What are they made of, by the way? Plastic/silicon/latex/NASA-developed secret substance?
How many pairs have you gone through? 
What color are they?
Are they detectable through clothes? 

Speaking of clothes/foundation garments… if you’ve used the Padz for a long time… do you NEED a nursing bra? Or can you use a normal bra at some point?
Have you had success with wearing them to bed minus the foundation garment?
Did you use them with the prior pregnancy? 

What are the noticeable differences between the Padz and antique padded milk-absorber thingers (if you ever used the old fashioned ones)?

Do they still stick if you use ointment to preserve the integrity of the skin (cracking/chapping/etc)?

Anything else you can tell me that I might not think to ask you would also be most helpful.

Earlier tonight, my sister in law complained that her old-fashioned breast-leak-preventers were horrible.  So not only would I like to get some for me, but I’d like to get SIL some ASAP. "

That is a thorough line of questioning, Daphne. I hope never to be up against you in a courtroom.

I was told, in the breastfeeding class I took while pregnant with El Chico, that the reason some women leak is because there's a muscle inside each breast that controls the flow of the milk. Some women have tighter muscles there (they won't leak) and other women have looser muscles there (they will leak). The LC who led the class did not think supply was directly correlated to whether or not you'd leak (although obviously if you have chronic low supply you won't ever get engorged enough to have anything to leak).

The difference in muscles (which apparently has some genetic component) also has something to do with the different ways women experience the sensation of milk letdown. I've heard some women describe it as painful, like little electric shocks, while others say they never noticed it, but most seem to feel something in between.

Also, the longer you nurse, the better your body becomes at storing and regulating supply, so the less you'll get engorged and the less you'll leak. All this stuff make sense to me, based on what happened to me and the women I've talked to about this. I stopped leaking with El Chico at maybe 4-5 months, and with El Pequeño at around 7 months. I stopped feeling the letdown with each kid right around the time I stopped leaking. I have a friend who had a huge supply (her daughter had a heart defect that caused her to need an enormous number of calories for the first two months until the hole closed up) but never leaked. I have other friends who leaked until they weaned.

So you don't know ahead of time whether or not you'll leak and even need nursing pads, although if you leak during pregnancy you know you'll leak at least some once your milk is in.

And now a little review of the nursing pads I've tried. I'm an oversupplier, and I leak. Waking-up-in-a-puddle-of-my-own-milk kind of leaking (a problem I know tons of people would love to have even if it means you smell like a cheese factory). So nursing pads aren't optional for me (my mom says she used to just put a cloth diaper in each side of her bra).

I've used disposible pads, and really really don't like them. They are convenient, except that I always run out and then by the time I get to and from the store I've leaked through my bra and shirt. The adhesive never really works that well so I end up with a bunched-up pad that looks like a boll weavil in my bra and is not giving me proper coverage. They're not absorbant enough to cover me for all night. The stay-dry material of the pads always makes me itch. And if you aren't careful to buy disposible pads that breathe you can get a wicked infection or fungus, which just, eew.

I've used cloth pads and like them slightly better. They're far more comfortable, and it's not throwing money down a hole because you can reuse them. But I have to change them 3-4 times a day, they bunch up and are bulky even when they're not bunched, and I have to remember to wash them and somehow keep track of the pairs (yes, I use a lingerie bag, but somehow they escape). Also, they don't contain my nighttime output.

I struggled through with the cloth pads during my leaking time with El Chico, but lost all patience when I was leaking with El Pequeño. So I gave in to the hype about Lilypadz (despite my misgivings about purchasing a product with a Z where an S should be). Oh, so worth the $20. So, so worth the $20.

Lilypadz are clear, floppy, flower-shaped discs made of "silicone rubber compounds" that are smooth on one side and tacky on the other side. You peel them off the hard plastic discs they come on and stick them right to your skin, like pasties (link is not work safe, no no no!). They work the same way it does if you press your fingers or the back of your hand against your nipple when you feel the letdown coming--the pressure stops the milk from coming out. So Lilypadz don't catch any milk; instead, they stop it from coming out to begin with.

Because they stick to you you don't need to wear a bra with them (I didn't at night), and because they're so thin and flexible you can't see them under clothes. A friend with no kids told me that her friend (also with no kids) wears them under skimpy outfits to prevent nipple show-through. For what that's worth.

After you wear them you should wash them with soap and let them air dry. If you don't wash them in between wearings they won't stick to you that well (and milk can come out and leak down out the bottom of them). Whenever you want to you can boil them to sterilize them (boiling them turns them a little cloudy, but doesn't affect the performance). After a couple of months mine started to disintegrate slightly. I used mine for about 3 1/2 months, at which point I stopped needing to use them (I stopped leaking) and stopped keeping track of them and one went missing (it's undoubtedly back behind the headboard of our bed, where I can't see or reach). The website says they last for around 4 months, which I think is probably a good estimate.

From a financial standpoint, they're way cheaper than using disposible pads for the same amount of time. In order to have a decent rotation of cloth pads you'd probably end up spending at least $20, so you end up ahead there, too. Environmentally speaking, I liked only having two items in use that required minimal care.

The website claims that they are less likely to cause thrush than other pads are, and that makes sense to me since the milk shouldn't even come out to get trapped next to your skin. I didn't use mine until I was past the irritation phase of nursing, so I don't know how they'd perform with lanolin underneath them. I'd recommend that in the first few weeks of nursing, if you're using ointment for irritation or cracking you allow your nipples to be in the open air as much as possible anyway, so pads shouldn't be an issue at that point.

For me at least, Lilypadz were absolutely the answer to the question "If they can put a man on the moon, why can't they invent nursing pads that don't make me look like an idiot and smell like a fine Stilton?".

Oh, and I have problems nursing while not wearing a nursing bra because I have a big cup size. Friends with smaller cup sizes have great success just lifting their regular bras to nurse. So the question about whether or not you need nursing bras totally depends on the size of your particular rack. You may want to check out this post about nursing bras, and especially the comments, to gather some more info about nursing bras in general.

I hope that answers all your questions, because my brain is empty now on the topic of leaking and breast pads.

Comments

[julia]

Where were you to explain those to me when I needed them? I took one look and didn't get it (silicone? How does that absorb anything?) ad then disregarded. Instead I used disposable (if you're going to have to, I can only recommend Lansinoh, as the others suck ass).

I have a small rack that was HUGE when nursing. Leaked like a sieve. I'm weaning now, and only stopped leaking a month ago (when she was 12 months old). But I do have my teeny ta-tas back and can wear a regular bra without pads now. Yay.

[tracy]

They work the same way it does if you press your fingers or the back of your hand against your nipple when you feel the letdown coming--the pressure stops the milk from coming out.

Woah! I had to stop reading at that point to say OMGWTF?! I'd never heard that before, and I'm on baby number two and leaking at every feed, even though she's at 7.5 months now. When I feel the letdown I keep my hands away under the impression that any extra pressure will only cause extra distance. I will most definitely try that at the next feeding.

I use non-adhesive disposables that generally stay put and only bunch sometimes, although they have been known to peek out of my top on random occasions. I think they're made by Johnson & Johnson, but are a New Zealand thing. I've been thinking about Lilypadz, but I don't know how much longer I'll be nursing for (we probably won't have more kids) so whether it's worth the cost.

[Mary]

I have a very small rack, normally about an A, maybe almost a B while nursing. I leak, but not prodigiously, and I only feel a bit of letdown when I leak, not really when I nurse. I nursed my older kid until she was 2.5, but I have no recollection of when I stopped leaking. I'm still leaking with my eight-month-old.

I use the sort of fitted/cup-shaped pads that are thin flannel on the inside and lace on the outside. They stay in place very nicely for me and are absorbent enough for my small amount of leakage. Since my rack is small, I never have used a nursing bra. I use the strectchy bandeau-type bras-- mine are actually for kids. However, since my bralets aren't padded and my shirts are fitted, you can kind of see the outline of the pads.

I bought some Lilypadz hoping to get rid of this line, but I'm not crazy about them for nursing in public. I can't just shove them aside in my bra like I do with the cotton ones, and I find them really difficult to reapply discretely. For me, they're okay if I don't have the baby with me, but otherwise I feel kind of meh about them.

Not that I've found an ideal solution, though.

[Her Bad Mother]

Regarding using Lilypadz in the first few weeks - I used mine only then, as it turned out that I don't leak. But I found them invaluable for protecting the sore, cracked nipples that my darling child gnawed open. Cuz you can't go topless 24-7... the padz were a lifesaver for those times when I wanted to have a shirt on and the nipples couldn't stand the slightest brush of fabric (and stuck painfully to the cotton pads or the inside of the nursing bra). It was money well spent just for that relief.

[Claire Gee]

Regarding wearing an ordinary bra to breastfeed. I was told by several midwives that you should quit wearing underwire bras while in the last months of pregnancy, and during the months that you are nursing. Apparently they can interfere with your milk production and cause problems (perhaps blockages and mastitis, I'm not sure exactly) has anyone else been told this?

[Melanie]

Ok, has anyone read the most recent post about stinky armpits over at "The Naked Ovary"? That's me with LilyPadz. I loved them in theory and wore them for about a week ... and then it happened. I realized that the disgusting stench I smelled was my nipples. Apparently I am a nipple-sweat girl and since they Padz didn't allow a lot of airflow, it smelled a bit like a locker room. Think smelly feet after jogging 10 Km. But without the weight loss. Just the stench.

Ewww.

[Margaret]

Responding to Claire Gee's question about underwire bras -- yes, they definitely can cause plugged ducts and mastitis while you are lactating. In fact anything that consistently puts pressure on part of your breast can do that. Some women even get plugged ducts on long car trips from the pressure of the seatbelt crossing their chest. I'm sure there are moms out there who have worn underwire nursing bras with no problems, but plugged ducts & mastitis are no fun *at all* and I for one would rather not risk it.

[Adria]

I loved Lilypadz. The first time I used them I wore them day and night and (being yeast prone anyway) had a raging yeast infection on my nipples the next day. After treating that, boiling them, and going back to using them but not at night I never had a problem.

Up until I tried them my favorite pads by far were the Danish Wool pads. Very absorbant and super soft.

[blythe]

a word of caution... I used lilypadz for a week and loved, loved, loved them. until - my nipples got a rash from the adhesive. Ouch! At which point I threw them right away.

[Emilin]

I bought Lilypadz (typing that Z makes my teeth itch every single time) on this recommendation, and in the last 48 hours that I've had them, I've been pretty happy. I've had a two incidents of leaking, both during overnight use, but it beats going through several burp rags and diapers every night and still waking up damp.

Oh yeah, and cat hair gets stuck to the outside of them. I feel a little fuzzy, but it's all good.

[Jezer]

Hope you don't mind, but your recommendation for LilyPadz was so right on that I've linked to it along with my own review of the padz. Thanks so much for the tip!

[Laura]

This is obviously ages after the orignal post but thought I'd let you know that I totally credit my Lilypadz with saving my breastfeeding after an agonizing 3+ months of thrush & Raynaud's syndrome (painful nipple blanching). I'd heard of the padz (ugh on the z) prior to nursing but never got around to buying them until I read your review.

Within a week of using them the thrush cleared up & hasn't returned (we're now 7 months). I had tried every protocol & medication to clear it up before this & it still wasn't going away. That combined with what amounts to frostbite on your nipples made me almost give up so many times. I think once I made the switch it gave my nipples a bit of time to heal & the silicone seems to keep some needed heat in. Obviously this doesn't work for some people (nipple sweat) but when you are trying to breastfeed through a Canadian winter with poor ciculation, the Lilypadz rock.

Thanks!