What makes LANACare Nursing Pads Superior to Cotton or Disposables?
• Most women need only 2 - 3 pairs and 1 bottle of Lanolin Soap for the entire nursing period. Economical, in the long run, compared with the repetitive cost of disposables. And environmentally friendly!
• Wool wicks moisture away from your skin, keeping you dry and comfortable, even in warm climates. When the pads do feel wet, they’re warm, not cold and clammy as with cotton or disposable pads.
• Your skin is kept dry and able to breathe, allowing sore nipples to heal. Since LANACare pads contain lanolin, use of lanolin ointment is a perfect combination of treatment for sore nipples. Many women have claimed that once they began using these pads, their nipples began to heal and breastfeeding “turned around” for them.
• Scandinavian midwives have, for centuries, advised mothers to keep their breasts warm to prevent plugged ducts and mastitis. Larger sizes give protective coverage over greater a portion of the breast.
• With larger sizes, the edge of the pad falls further back on your breast, making pads LESS noticeable through clothing.
• Great, non-medicinal remedy for Raynaud’s/vasospasms! The gentle warmth of the wool keeps blood vessels dilated, preventing the pain and discomfort caused by vasospasms.
• Natural fibers of wool allow skin to breathe, maintaining a comfortable temperature even in warm climates. Moderates temperature, for comfort even when moving between hot outdoor climates and cold air-conditioned inner climates.
• Variety of sizes and styles to suit each woman’s needs!
• Women LOVE these nursing pads – how often do you hear that about a nursing pad??
Archive for the 'Product Info' Category
I often get questions regarding care of the blankets – if they can be washed in a washer. What I’ve found is that washing by hand gives best results. Even with a front load washer and a gentle cycle, being unable to completely control the temperature of the water can result in felting and shrinking.
If your baby has spit up and there is a small spot you’d like to clean, you can simply run it under the faucet with lukewarm water, brush the area with your fingers, and then let it dry. If it’s just a small area, you can even avoid doing this. Remember, the natural lanolin will be activated any time the blanket gets wet – lanolin actually cleans away bacteria and odors, so perhaps once your blanket has dried, you’ll barely be able to notice where your baby spit up.
If you do see a spot once the blanket’s dry, try just rubbing this area between the knuckles of your fingers – this can break up any particles and help them flake out of the wool. When my son was a small child, I was amazed to find that an area where he spilled chocolate milk on his beloved sheepskin magically had disappeared a couple days later when I went to wash it. (sheep skins are no longer recommended for infants – the long hair fibers can trap CO2 and other gases, created a cloud of this near your baby’s face)
So, you may not need to be so quick to wash your baby’s blanket. When you do wash it, wash by hand in lukewarm water with lanolin-replenishing soap. You can also wash by hand with a mild hair shampoo (mild rather than shampoo for oily hair will clean without stripping the lanolin from the wool). After a number of washings with hair shampoo, the lanolin should be replaced with lanolin-replenishing soap to maintain the wool’s self-cleansing properties. Rinse in lukewarm water. Press out most of the water, then spin in your washer, using the spin cycle, to remove most of the absorbed water. Roll blanket in a terry cloth towel to press out even more water. Let air-dry or place in a warm area to dry. The wool can also be brushed with a natural-bristled brush to remove any pilling…
Undoubtedly, among the most commonly asked questions I receive about LANACare nursing pads are in regards to sizing. Yes, these pads look huge compared to the familiar disposables and cotton pads! But the intention is that they cover a larger portion of your breast, to provide all of their beneficial properties, rather than to simply be in place to absorb excess milk. So an open mind and looking beyond cultural norms can be helpful when pondering what size is best.
In Scandinavia, where keeping breasts warm to prevent plugged ducts has been a cultural norm passed on from generation to generation, women tend to want the largest size pads they can get… Here in the U.S., just seeing the size Large pad would cause many a woman’s jaw to drop open. They look more like a breakfast pancake than a nursing pad. It is not often I recommend this size to American women, because I’ve had so many exchange them for size Medium. But there are women for whom size Large has perfectly fit their needs. If you do want a larger size pad, the Oval pad will often fit more readily into your bra, and give coverage alongside up towards your armpit, where many women can experience plugged ducts. There is a size to suit your needs!
The size I most often recommend is size Small. Even these are larger than what most women are used to, and at first site they look absolutely too large. But they form well to your breast, and once in place, often do not seem as large as at first site. Because they are actually less noticeable through your clothing than a smaller pad (the edge falls further back on your breast) and because this size will give you the best coverage while still fitting within the edge of most bras, this is the size I recommend most often.
Many women still think size Small is too large, and ask to exchange for size Mini. Again, if you want to down-size, I most often recommend going for size XS, rather than Mini. Because of the stitching around the edge of the pads, size Mini actually appears smaller than disposables and cotton. (I most often recommend size Mini as an additional layer against your skin, for the rare case of leaking even through Ekstra style pads.) For the extra benefits the additional coverage size XS gives over Mini, I feel that size XS will “give you more for your money” and is preferable to size Mini.
Hope this helps! For guidelines in sizing, see our website.
