Nursing pads are your backup to help prevent a wet shirt. Yes, your breasts will leak when you are breastfeeding. There is milk in there and there is bound to be a time when you leak.
When do you leak?
When you are full. So if you empty at regular intervals you are less likely to leak. You are more prone to leaking when you miss feedings or are late to feed.
There are two basic kinds of breastmilk pads: reusable (cotton, flannel or fleece washable) and disposable.
The photo shows disposable on the left and washable on the right.
I love the idea of reusable, but I have yet to find one that works as well as the disposable ones. The purpose of the nursing pads is twofold: CAPTURE leakage and KEEP MOISTURE OFF your nipple. If the leak is not captured, it fails and if your nipple stays moist it fails.
If your nipples stay moist it can lead to
thrush,
a yeast infection that can effect both you and baby.
I suggest buying both kinds and deciding for yourself which works best for you.
How can you minimize the leaking if it does happen lets say if you are in the middle of a class or the grocery store?
Simple: apply pressure. Just like you would if you had a wound that was bleeding. Apply pressure to your nipple/areola for 1-2 minutes and it will reduce the leakage until the letdown has stopped. This will only be a temporary fix: you must go empty asap.
