> 1. A relative isbreastfeeding her two month old and finds herself quite a bit bustier than usual--34F to be precise. She is trying to find bras that provide good support, don't show flap lines through clothing (although this is less important than support), and are easy to "open" when feeding or pumping (going to work soon). I've seen the catalogs and heard the speels, but haven't had client feedback as far as "performance" evaluation. HELP! If mom is fitted well, my clients have good luck with both the Decent Exposures and Leading Lady lines of bras. Which they like best depends on personal comfort. Fitted well makes the most difference then, I am sure most bras will do fine. Flap lines show when the cup size or band width is incorrect. When she fits the bra it should fit comfortably around the rib cage with no more than two finger's width between body and back of bra and should be against her ribcage in the front. The bottom of the bra should be level from under the breasts to behind the back. Once the ribcage fits well, work on the cups. The cups should cover all of the breast tissue without binding at the armpits, cutting into the top of the breast tissue, or buckling at the top. As far as underwires, I am not aware of any research but, a significantly greater percentage of the moms that come to me with plugged ducts and breast infections do have underwires so I cannot, in good conscience, recommend them. If a mom needs lots of support, the decent exposures gives that much support without the wire. Most moms I see have very poorly fitting bras. It seems they all get larger and larger bandwidths as their breasts grow instead of getting larger cups. If a mom complaines of the straps slipping off of her shoulders, the ribcage is almost always too big. One mom came in in a 40DD cup. Once she was fitted, she wears a 30I bra. When she got her special order bra, she had tears in her eyes. Since she was a teen, she had not had a comfortable bra. One last comment on the underwires: Having worn those #@%$#@#& things, I think the MAN who invented them should be forced to live the rest of his life in an underwire jock strap! It must have been a man, I couldn't imagine one woman doing that to another. My apologies to the men on the net. Linda Pohl, IBCLC Phoenix, Arizona USA [log in to unmask]