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Guide to Bravado’s New Arrivals: Our Best Nursing Bras for Moms

Back in 1992, when two friends couldn’t find comfy nursing bras that were also fun or fashionable, they sat down at the kitchen table and made one—out of leopard print fabric, no less. That’s how Bravado Designs was, well, born.

Fit and comfort are paramount to this brand by moms, for moms. “We get it: Breastfeeding has its ups and downs. We want to help women feel comfortable and confident with maternity and nursing bras that make sense for this crazy, exciting stage in life,” says Tara Hoth, head of design. “We firmly believe bras shouldn’t be bland. We offer fun colors in addition to classic beige and black, and a little bow, polka dot or print isn’t out of the question.”

Like Bare Necessities, Bravado Designs is “pretty much obsessed with fit,” says Tara. She and her designers are black-belts when it comes to feel-good fabrications and sanity-savers like easy-release clasps and cups that fully drop down for those zonked-out 4 AM feedings. (Look for band sizes 32-46 and cups B-M.)

What’s extra cool: an innovative Test Wearer program in which real moms road-test the bras and nursing tanks, from new prototypes to existing designs. Their input helps Tara’s team fine-tune the details that make all the difference. And since necessity is—pun intended—the mother of invention, here’s what’s new and exciting for moms right now from Bravado Designs:

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Health & Wellness

World Breastfeeding Week: Breastfeeding Awareness, Breastfeeding Tips and the Best Nursing Bras

While most people could tell you that October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, breasts are also being honored right this minute: The first week of August is World Breastfeeding Week, an international event celebrated by more than 170 countries. While fundraising walks and the omnipresent pink ribbon mark the former, this month we turn our attention to encouraging and supporting breastfeeding as a way to improve infant health globally.

Believe it or not, the United States is the only industrialized country that doesn’t provide workers with legally mandated paid maternity leave. In fact, only 21 percent of private employers offer paid leave. That’s not good news for boosting breastfeeding rates. Some innovative companies, though, have made breastfeeding and adequate leave a priority: Netflix now gives new parents up to one paid year off. Similarly, Google reduced its new mom attrition rate by half when it lengthened maternity leave from 12 to 18 weeks.

How else can we support our breastfeeding moms and their babies?