Small breasts yet huge cup size?

spinsoffresonance · October 2013

I went to get fitted for a new nursing bra since I'm still breastfeeding my 11 month old DD. I walked out with a 32E!!!! I'm so confused, I have always had smallish breasts. Been going back and forth between 36A, 36B and 38A all my life. I put on a lot of weight (50lbs) when pregnant with DD. I got professionally measured at about 20 weeks because my usual VS demi push-up bras were getting super awkward , and was a 38B. Now that I lost the baby weight (and haven't really gained new baby weight yet) I'm a giant 32E. Well at least I would have thought an E cup would be giant but my boobs are still their usual smallish unimpressive selves. Trust me when I say no one would ever look at me and think that I have large breasts. Bra sizing really makes no sense at all! Anyone else with small breasts but big bra size?

wtfisup · October 2013

Cup size isn't a standalone thing. It's relevant to your band size. So with 32 E is close to a 38 C

jnnfrrose6 · October 2013

Band size is usually more important than cup size and that's what most people get wrong. VS also isn't the greatest place to get measured...they don't have great training on it. Nordstroms is supposed to be really good, or Intimacy if you're near one of those (they're only in major cities).

Laura_Elaine · October 2013

Does it fit well?

I used to be a professional fitter, and there were a few different ways to fit. The lady who trained me seriously did it one way, but said to ask what they wear and if the measurement was way different than what they were already in to just go a few sizes up or down from what they already had. Not a good way to learn! (At least didn't give me much faith in her...) Over time, I learned a much more reliable way to measure that was a bit more accurate, although bras fit people differently and some adjustments always had to be made.

As long as the bra fits you well, don't get so caught up on the size. Like anything else, bras are typically machine-made/measured and in the retail by business I learned that one machine can vary up to an inch in either direction from the "actual" size and still be considered okay... that's a two-inch variable! Granted, I was told that about shirts and pants, so hopefully the more specific "32-inches" or a 32-whatever bra isn't quite so variable... but as long as it fits well, it's just a number/letter.

*Edited for spelling corrections*

thelittlepear · October 2013

I had always worn a 36A, until I got measured... I was getting marks on the side of my boob, where the wire was poking me. Ended up getting fitted as a 32 D. The lady told me that cup size has more to do with how wide the curve of your boobs are, where as the and size has more to do with how far they stick out... Who knows if that's true, but they've been the best fitting bras I've ever had!!!

brittany&dain · October 2013

I had always been about a 32 or 34 A or B depending on the bra and when I got measured after ds I was a 34 DD but my boobs didn't look like that at all.

spinsoffresonance · October 2013

@jnnfrrose6 I actually went to Intimacy, totally agree with you i wouldn't get measured at VS. unfortunately it's gonna be a while until i go back to VS, I'm really sick of wearing plain beige nursing bras, I wish I could wear something pretty, sigh. @Laura_Elaine it does fit really well, thanks. On the upside DH is super excited that I have "huge boobs".

ncbelle · October 2013

Ditto that the band size makes a huge difference. I've very small breasted but just learned this summer that a 32B actually fits me better than the 34A I'd been wearing since high school. But I'm still captain of the itty bitty titty committee

ykristos · October 2013

jnnfrrose6 said:

Band size is usually more important than cup size and that's what most people get wrong. VS also isn't the greatest place to get measured...they don't have great training on it. Nordstroms is supposed to be really good, or Intimacy if you're near one of those (they're only in major cities).

They're also known to miraculously measure people relevant to the sizes they have. They're not going to tell someone they are a 30F because they don't stock that.

spacepotatoes · October 2013

I had always worn a 34 or 36B until a few months ago. I was trying on some bras in that size and none of them felt comfortable. The lady at the store (La Vie en Rose, it's in Canada but I'm not sure about the US) handed me a 36C to try and it fit like a dream. She said that it's a sister size to a 36B. So, there is definitely some variation and each size is not totally unique.

Like PPs said, as long as it fits and is comfortable, don't get too hung up on the actual size.

kelcistanfield · October 2013

Have you tried HotMilk bras? They kept me feeling like I still had a bit of sex appeal left in me. They're pretty AND easy to nurse with! Ha-cha-cha

Bootsie327 · October 2013

I was a 34B forever, and decided I didn't like how my bras were fitting me, so I tried a 34C and it was perfect! When I picture a C, I don't tend to think of someone with small-medium breasts as myself, but apparently lots of women get their cup size wrong. In any case, now that I'm pregnant, I've gone up in inches AND cup size and am wearing a 36D which seems insane, but it fits and I guess that's the important thing.

spinsoffresonance · October 2013

Bootsie327 said:

I was a 34B forever, and decided I didn't like how my bras were fitting me, so I tried a 34C and it was perfect! When I picture a C, I don't tend to think of someone with small-medium breasts as myself, but apparently lots of women get their cup size wrong. In any case, now that I'm pregnant, I've gone up in inches AND cup size and am wearing a 36D which seems insane, but it fits and I guess that's the important thing.

Totally know what you mean, when I picture DD breasts I go straight to melons, so it's hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that that is my size now! But like you said, it fits so that's what matters.

spinsoffresonance · October 2013

Also I just tried on my 38B bra on the tightest hook. Gotta say my boobs don't quite fill the cups and I'm getting some serious side boob. The 32E is clearly a much better fit. But what really doesn't make sense about bra sizing is that I'm an E yet have smaller breasts than someone wearing a B cup ( in a different band size, obviously), they should come up with a better system.

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