My Postpartum Wardrobe

+J.M.J.+

I am in the dreaded phase of postpartum dressing right now as Felicity is one month old.

When it comes to clothes, I have four limitations: 1. Modesty matters to me because it matters greatly to Our Lady and the saints, which means I have certain standards in dress I maintain which are not always easy to find in the marketplace. 2. Thus far in my marriage, I am almost always breastfeeding or pregnant (and sometimes both!), which means my tops need to be able to give me breastfeeding access and/or fit around a growing belly. 3. My weight fluctuates a lot because of said pregnancies. 4. Money – our finances are tight so I can’t afford lots of well-constructed pieces at the moment – whatever I can make work for pregnancy, postpartum, and breastfeeding really helps!

I have been experiencing my typical postpartum frustration with clothing, and Ethan, wonderful husband that he is, said we were just going to solve it without dragging on the pain for months while I lose weight.

I have a favorite dress I got while pregnant with Felicity this year that I have been wearing almost exclusively since she was born when it hasn’t been in the laundry… so we looked it up and it has been released in four other patterns. Find the dress here.

This is a dress sold by Target which I know a lot of Catholics boycott – we have boycotted them for years, but I have gotten pretty desperate since becoming pregnant with Felicity.

(Motherhood Maternity went bankrupt, Milk Nursingwear has gone out of business, *none* of my local stores like Kohls or JC Penny offer hardly any maternity or nursing clothing anymore outside of maybe a couple shirts and jeans, and our local thrift stores have almost nothing for either.)

I just really needed some options, so I relented, went to Target, and they actually had the most workable maternity and nursing options of any stores.

We ordered those four new patterns in addition to the one we got on clearance last winter when I was first pregnant, so now I have five of these dresses for this coming winter and spring. It meets all of my needs – it is modest, it is nursing friendly with my undershirt hack shared below, it is pregnancy friendly, and the elastic waist and tie sash will let it shrink with me as I lose the baby weight, too!

Another thing I like about this dress is that it is not a super clingy material. Everything I have found on Amazon hugs every bit of fat on you! This dress hangs nicely without clinging to your bra and love handles.

I make this dress nursing friendly by wearing a tank top underneath that I have cut off just below the bust line. I pull down to nurse, and the tank top keeps the rest covered.

This five dress wardrobe absolutely lacks some variety but it also gives concrete options and saves me from a depressing moment most mornings wondering what on earth will fit my postpartum body.

Once I am back to my pre-pregnancy size, I will look forward to wearing some of my other existing clothes that are currently too small, and adding a few other pieces in to my wardrobe. For the moment I am grateful for some simple options for an everyday uniform that work for me!