Thoughts on breastfeeding in medieval kit and bump support while pregnant: solving the leeking boob issue

I was talking to a friend of mine on the phone last night I was telling him about the ideas I've had for Kit and Caboodle. During this conversation I came up with the idea of making the plastron/stomacher for the bump into a bump support, similar to the ones you can get out of jersey to support your bump during pregnancy. I've had an idea that uses elastic as well as an idea that uses all natural fabrics. I've managed to get them down in my notebook this morning, plus drawings (when the scanner is working I shall copy them and post them up here.)

I've also managed to get the variations of breastfeeding shifts down. I've got three so far. I'm meeting a fellow re-enacting Mum this afternoon; we're taking the children to the park for a picnic, so I' shall run them past her and see if we come up with anything else.

I'm rather enjoying getting my ideas drawn and written down on paper. The next step will be to make toiles for fit and then make mock-ups/ trial runs. I think I'll have to size them by breast size as well as height.

medieval kit, pregnancy and breast feeding

I recently started a group on facebook called re-enactment babies:
 https://www.facebook.com/groups/417762901587073/418526614844035/?notif_t=group_activity
 It's for friends who have kids and other members of the re-enactment crowd

We've got quite a few new Mums in the group asking about breastfeeding. I breast fed Bella but finding contemporary evidence was hard. I'm not massively well endowed and was able to lift mine over the neck line of my shift to feed Bella. However some of the new Mums are extremely buxom and it's proving challenging.

Not the most flattering picture of me but you can
see that my kirtle isn't massively low cut;
my shift comes just below the neckline of my kirtle.

You can see on this also not flattering picture how high my shift
comes as it's the white just above the burgundy on the neckline

This has inspired me. I've come up with some thoughts for expecting Mums and breastfeeding Mums. One friend said she'd got contemporary evidence for shifts with splits in, so I've asked for the evidence. But I thought why not make plastrons to fit inside the opening of a front fastening kirtle with extra long laces. That's what I had to do while pregnant and it meant little alteration to kit. A side fastening over kirtle I have evidence for, and the lacing on that could be loosened off  as the bump expands.

I'm front row right in orange, less than two months off having Bella. Although my kirtle fit on my chest my bump was massive, so I made a white wool plasteron to cover the gap. Looking at this picture, maybe I should have used a better colour, or even some spare fabric left over from the kirtle (though I didn't have any for this particular one)