Should I be wearing underwire bras during my breastfeeding phase?
Every mother’s breastfeeding phase is beautiful. However, the thought of possibly not having enough milk supply may cross your mind once or twice, or always. Your body is made to cater to your child’s needs, your body was made for it, so do not stress over it, but let your body to do its job! But… there is never any harm in trying one or two remedies out there that could help you increase your milk supply, isn’t it?
During pregnancy, your body will start to change, in preparation for its initial phase of breastfeeding. Your breasts will start to swell, becoming bigger and heavier. The milk glands in your breasts, namely Alveoli will be activated to start producing milk. Once your breasts start to swell, it is essential that they are not constricted and tight around your rib cage as this may affect milk flow and supply.
Our milk ducts are not only within our breasts themselves but also extend all the way from our rib cage till up into our armpits. With this in mind, it is essential to ensure that the milk ducts are able to move freely and prevent engorgement. It may even come to Mastitis – Inflammation of the breast tissue which may involved breast swelling and pain, with fever possibly. The question is, will wearing underwire bras cause milk flow supply to be lesser? The truth is, there is no hard evidence that Nursing moms should not be wearing underwire bras, but instead, the real culprit is when we are wearing our bras too tight.
With this said, underwire bras tend to still have a higher chance of causing engorgement as they are created to provide well-rounded support, leaving pressure on the breasts and rib cage. I mean, we can all relate when we want to remove our bras the first thing we reach home, don’t we? So, ladies, it’s time to ditch those bras that are just too tight and unbreathable on your skin and like what they say – Let ‘em Free! It’s time to seek after a better bra alternative! Check out our Envy Her Bralettes range today!
The Science of Shapewear
When you think of shapewear, what is the first thing that comes to your mind? In other meaning, shapewear is another word for Compression Garment. Compression garments have been more actively presented and worn by athletes. Whether it has been popularised for its comfort and aesthetic looks, it is primarily used for its ability, to promote recovery.
With this in mind, a shapewear acts exactly the same as an athlete’s compression garment where it will promote recovery for postpartum moms or post-surgical compression. Designed to be just like our second skin, compression garment applies surface pressure on our body to boost blood circulation, and ultimately, supports and aids in our healing process too.
Focusing on postpartum recovery, compression garments are used for 3 main areas to aid in your recovery and healing process:
- Compression & recovery
- Speeding up healing processes
- Bringing organs into their original position postpartum
During pregnancy, the muscles and ligaments in our lower back are pulled back by the weight of your child, also leaving our skin to be stretched out. With a heavy pregnant belly, it also causes our spines to deepen and curve to support the weight of the child.
Once we have given birth, a shapewear is able to support by bringing in the stretched skin to its original position, and moulding the body back to shape. Compression will also aid in the reduction of swelling and water retention in the abdomen. Our organs are also pushed to certain positions in our abdomen to support our babies in our womb. With extra room in our abdomen after our uterus shrink after giving birth, our organs are able to slowly shift back to its original position after birth with supported compression.
At the end of the day, we need some extra support to promote and aid in our healing processes postpartum – Have you gotten your piece yet? Check out Wink Shapewear with Envy Her today!
What’s next? Liposuction: Doctor’s recommends!
Bye bye fat cells! Liposuction has been a popular procedure among many who are looking to ‘lose weight’ quickly and get rid of unwanted fats in a certain area. If you are unsure of what liposuction is, it is a medical procedure to remove unwanted fat cells in your body. Yay to a new body! But if you were to not look after yourself properly after the surgery, you may say “Hello, new problems.”
Liposuction was developed to remove fats, but it is not meant to tighten skin! So in this case, what happens after you have removed excess fats below your skin? If you were to remove a small area of fats, you will not experience saggy skin technically. BUT. If you were to remove a large number of fat cells, the skin may appear and look saggy and loose! So now, is it really worth it to go for liposuction if your skin may still look saggy and loose?
Fortunately, with your determination, we can change that! Compression garments have been highly recommended by doctors to help encourage a faster healing process. But of course, you need to be diligent about wearing the compression garment consistently! Why so?
Post-surgical swelling
The swelling will occur after any post-surgical procedures. Swelling is the result due to increased movement of fluid and white blood cells into the inflammation. By having compression on the tissues, it will help our body to reabsorb the edema fluid (The medical term for swelling) that accumulates after the surgery. This means that with compression, it will help control and decrease potential swelling.
Enhancing contours and final appearance of your skin
By removing the upper fatty layer on top of the abdominal wall, wearing a compression garment will help to maintain the new contours by holding the skin and tissues to its position. The compression garment will help to remind your skin to stay to its new position over time, with consistent wear.
With consistent wear daily, your recovery process will definitely quicken and provide you with better your final result of Liposuction will be amplified with the use of shapewear.
Now, Envy Her, Wink Shapewear is here to help! With smooth, breathable medically-graded Lycra shapewear, you won’t have to worry about not finding the right shapewear for your post-surgical needs. With various designs with targeted areas to choose from, we can be there for you through your surgical needs. Bye Bye Fat Cells, No More Problems!
WHY DO I STILL LOOK PREGNANT?!
If you are still thinking if you should be wearing a compression garment after postpartum, think again. Let’s look at how our bodies change during and after pregnancy.
During pregnancy
During pregnancy, our bodies are filled up with various hormones such as estrogen, progesterone and relaxin. These are hormones which helps to loosen the abdominal muscles and pelvic structure. Our supporting joints and ligaments will move to prepare for childbirth. Our organs will also shift to provide space for our little babies. Not only are there changes internally, our exterior body structure will also change. Our pelvis will increase in size to accommodate more space and our bellies will expand. Basically, everything just becomes bigger. You will see your hips and bellies growing in size.
After pregnancy
After you have given birth, you may find that your abdomen may still feel quite round, firm and full. We may even look quite pregnant! Do not be alarmed, it is normal. Your body has yet to be activated to start its healing process and it may take many weeks for your body to go back to how it was before pregnancy. From the moment your baby is born, hormonal changes will also cause our uterus to contract, shrinking it to try to return to its pre-pregnancy stage. One significant difference would be our pelvis size and uterus, as our pelvis and uterus were previously stretched to accommodate the baby, it may take a while for it to return to its original size. Just imagine your belly like a balloon, it has been stretched for so long, and even as we have ‘popped’, the balloon will not return to its original state.
This is where shapewear comes in. With the extra compression to support the body in its healing process, your belly will definitely quicken its pace to become smaller and tighter. By drawing in stretched skin and muscles, you will see your body closely getting one step closer to your pre-pregnancy state! Wearing a shapewear does not magically help you to lose weight, but instead, helps you to get toner and provide a smoother silhouette. Eventually, if you are consistent in wearing them, your body will mould and stays in place. Like what Envy Her always says, “Bye Bye Belly, Hello Baby”!
The Story of Shapewear
History of Shapewear
Shapewear is a type of under garment that has been around since ancient times and it has manifested itself in many forms throughout the ages. Shapewear has evolved from girdles; worn by ancient Greek women, to corsets; that were popular in the Middle Ages up to the Victorian Era, to camisoles; popular in the 20th century, to its current modern slick elastic form that we are so familiar with. In current times shapewear is also called slimwear, body wraps, tummy tuckers, waist trimmers and a whole plethora of other creative names thought up by the marketing brains of our modern era.
Whatever form or name shapewear takes, its main aim is to control and shape the figure of the human body. Yes, the human body because men too have started using shapewear, it is not just us women who want to hide the extra pounds and create the illusion of a toned and leaner body.
Shapewear in Our Modern Society
It is now; in our high tech internet crazed world that shapewear is at its greatest height in terms of usage and popularity. You can see celebrities like the Kardashians, Madonna, Jessica Alba, Beyonce and Eva Longoria wearing shapewear. You will find out how widespread shapewear is simply by searching through the popular social media platforms like Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.
How Does Shapewear work?
All things being equal, some clothes will look more flattering on us than others because of superior sewing and cutting. This logic applies to shapewear as well.
Essentially Shapewear works as an under garment that compresses fat to temporarily smoothen out areas of the body, shaping your figure into a more desirable and fashionable silhouette. Shapewear can help you portray a smaller waist, create a fuller looking bust or emphasize your curvy hips. Whatever your needs, science and technology has made shapewear the ultimate secret weapon for looking good for women (and men!). A well designed shapewear using high tech fabrics can “shape” the curves and flabs of your body in the right places with pinpoint accuracy. You can choose to play them up or down by using the right type of shapewear. Unwanted extra flabs can be “moved” into spaces where a muscle is compressed and good shapewear that is well-designed can even “move” fat into more desirable areas like your butt and cleavage. Some of these types of well-engineered shapewear even have the ability to have long-lasting effects for toning and shaping your body instead of creating just an illusion of a more beautiful, slimmer silhouette.
Ultimately, shapewear has become a crucial part of our lives, not only to make us look good but also to make us feel good and confident. However hard you try, it will be nearly impossible to ignore shapewear and its benefits. The key is finding the right shapewear and coupled with a healthy lifestyle the sky’s the limit for looking and feeling great.