I used a single pair of LilyPadz probably thru about 6 months of breastfeeding with fairly good success, and even passed them onto my sister who used them for I don’t even know how long. She has passed them BACK to me, as I’m expecting again. I didn’t realize they’re supposed to “expire” after 2 months. Basically, I thought they worked fairly well. I definitely had trouble with them whenever it was super hot and I was sweaty, but (in hindsight) perhaps that was b/c they were old?

I would DEFINITELY recommend. esp. for special occasions or days where you may not remember/want to be worrying about when to change the more typical nursing pad. Though, perhaps, not for all the time, everyday use.

Dianna, thanks so much for sharing your experiences!  Glad to hear they held up so well for you.

I used LilyPadz after a recommendation and initially was excited about them. BUT I found that they ended up being the cause of many plugged ducts. They were also sort of a pain to handle, especially out in public. With disposable pads I could just shove them in my diaper bag or pocket while I was nursing, but the LilyPadz you have to be much more careful with so they were kind of a pain to deal with when I wasn’t comfortable just laying them on the table. And if you are leaking into them, you end up spilling that milk when you take them off. I don’t recommend them because of these things, particularly having to deal with plugged ducts!

I used LilyPadz for several months towards the end of the period I was nursing my daughter.  I really really liked them.  And they lasted much longer than 2 months.  I had no adverse reactions to them, and overall I found them to be a nice alternative to bulky pads and cloths.

I was excited about these 2+ years ago with my first pregnancy, and had them on my registry, until some nurses and lactation consultants warned me that they cause plugged ducts. (If you think about the physics of it all, this makes sense.)
I suppose this is a case where one’s mileage may vary, as they say, but it’s an important consideration.

I know what you mean about the reusable cloth ones being bulky, but oddly I found that while the Medela ones (my preferred brand for BF’ing stuff) were wrinkly and horrible, the Gerber ones actually were pretty flat and comfortable. I was just a gigantic milk factory for the first four months PP, and I went through about 3 sets of reusables a day (ha ha! even more laundry!) for the first few months. Also, I had enough problems w/ clogged ducts as it was, so I think I’ll pass on these.

I have a friend who swears by these but I stuck with cotton. I think you do what works best!

I have a pair of these and my reluctance to use them was for a different reason. My husband was asking me - what about the sticky stuff that’s on the pad and was my baby going to ingest any of it? and how to clean them thoroughly without getting rid of the sticky stuff...?  I also felt like I couldn’t take them off/put them on very quickly in public - like on an airplane, etc. when I don’t want to flash everyone but i need the latch on/off to be very quick! I’ve used them for swimming and they’ve worked great for that!

I prefer cotton pads. The disposable ones made me feel sweaty.

I tried lots of things but now the only one I’ll use is Bravado cloth ones.  They are thick but not wrinkly and are really, really absorbent.

They are lined with coolmax so they don’t feel wet or hot.

I don’t know how readily available they are but the company is http://www.bravadodesigns.com.  I also really like their bras (specifically the “original nursing bra” model).

I found them (LP, not the cotton or disposables)to be incredibly itchy as well :-(.