# "Bras" for 8/9 year old?



## coldfeet

I hope this is the correct forum for this.

My 8 year old daughter (will be 9 in Nov.) has recently developed little buds. I doubt she's ready for an actual training bra, but I have no idea... what "sizes" do training bras come in?

Basically, it's like she needs two layers to hide her buds. She has some tank tops that have built-in bras and she's fine in those. But for her other knit tops, you can clearly tell that they are there.

I was an early bloomer and I remember that I had to beg my mom for a training bra because I was so embarrassed.

So what brand/where can I find something that would be appropriate for this age and this developmental stage?

Thanks so much!!


----------



## prettymom

I remember wearing a tight camisole under knit tops at that age to smooth things over. I was embarrassed to wear an actual training bra because I didn't want anyone to see the lines and tease me.


----------



## november21

Sure- you can find little sets- panties and top, anywhere- Sears, Penny's any department store- Fred Meyer, Target, and dare I say WalMart.

"Training bra's" are a lot like a sports bra". You can find them alone by the young girls underwear- and sometimes you can find sets- Just a snug fitting under top that provides a young girl with some needed support as she blooms.
I remember mine fondly to this day (I am almost 40) and I was about the same age as your daughter.- A very special time in her life.


----------



## enkmom

Barely There sells little "bralets" that are good for those purposes. They slip on over the head and are very comfortable to wear.


----------



## shanagirl

My dd is 9 and exactly the same thing has come up--she refers to it as 'looking pointy', as in, "I don't like that shirt, I look too pointy in it." So our solution was to buy those cami bras, which are really like a double layer of understhirt. The only thing I'm careful about is that the banding is not too snug since you don't want pressure on developing lymph nodes. But she loves her camis. The Gap makes some cute ones and there was a huge selection at Limited Too.


----------



## maya44

Target ones are great. Sold in the girls underwear section. Cheap, comfy and cute


----------



## bigeyes

a AAA cup is essentially flat. DD has been wearing them for over a year now and is moving forward into 'A's and sports bras.


----------



## CorasMama

My DD came home from her grandmas (my xmil) with a couple of training bras after Christmas. They are too tight, and I don't really think she needs them. I hated training bras, because until I had enough boobage to hold them down, they'd ride up, with the band ending up under my armpits. I much prefer the idea of camisoles. Also, my DD feels like wearing a bra is too "grown up" and I'm all about preserving her childhood as long as we can, despite all the external influences trying to grow our kids up too fast these days.

A little funny: Cora asked why they call them training bras "What are they training? Aren't my breasts going to grow whether I wear a bra or not?"


----------



## InaX5

I feel like an expert here (because at 32 i still don't fit an A cup) The cami with the extra layer (or little shelf) is very comfy & serves the purpose, get the right fit so it doesn't feel to tight. My eldest dd wore these until she out grew me & now wears a bra.


----------



## Naturalyst

Certainly, you'll have lots of choices - from sports bras to camis to true training bras. All are available, most everywhere.

From my own experience, I suggest talking to your daughter about her comfort/preference. While I developed very early, I hated the idea of wearing a training bra. It set me apart from my friends and was a source of teasing (could be seen through clothing). And, I found it uncomfortable. As soon as I was out of my mother's sight, I'd take the thing off and toss it. There were no sport bras or camis with shelf bras built-in when I was that age. I was fine with wearing tee shirts, which was the norm among my friends. Eventually, my mother and I compromised on my wearing a thicker knit tee shirt under my regular shirt.

Print shirts can "hide" breast buds pretty well too.


----------



## moondiapers

No bra needed, just an undershirt








My dd likes the ribbed tank top undershirts. They hid her buds.


----------



## 20605

Just went through this - dd is 9. We went to target. They have sport bras that are essentially cami's. She picked them out and tried them on. We picked out several shirts with them so it wasn't so obvious, then she tried them on in the fitting room. Its important to try on or buy several sizes, we had to try on two sizes before it fit properly and being cotton, they will shrink a bit.

When she said she didn't want anyone to know she is wearing them, I told her if someone sees the shoulders, she can tell them its an undershirt or cami. Essentially, it is.

The sizes were S, M, L, XL, same as tshirts.

What I also find interesting is that she is thinking/planning how to change into her bathing suit at school. I am excited we are here, but scared too that I won't handle it right.

She is "just a bit pointy" as well.


----------



## maya44

Okay I do have to tell a story here. When my dd was around 10 we got her a bralett at Target.

We were swimming with my Crunchy Homeschooling SIL and her kids and my neice the same age was like "Why don't you just wear an undershirt" and my dd said that she would feel too "babyish" around the kids in school. Neice was like "I would never wear that when I could just wear an undershirt. They are too uncomortoable."

Later on that trip my SIL was talking about her reasons for homeschooling to my FIL and used the "need to wear a bra because of peer pressure" as an example of why she doesn'twant to send her kids to school.

Flash forward about 2 months. We are visiting SIL and neice is wearing a bralett. DD says "Hey, I thought you didn't like bras" and her little sister pipes up and says:
"Well all her girlfriends in our homeschooling field trip group were asking her how come she wears undershirts like a little kid instead of bras!"


----------



## coldfeet

Thank you for all the replies! I love reading these little stories. And ya know, I always wondered why they are called "training bras" as well... could never figure that one out!









Thanks again! I guess we are headed to the mall and Target this weekend! This is just a bitter sweet time.


----------



## magikalmoon

Has anyone heard of Descent Exposures. They make their own bras and can custom fit. I bought some from them and they are great> I will not buy from anywhere else.
Hope that helps some!


----------



## Ackray

Quote:


Originally Posted by *magikalmoon* 
Has anyone heard of Descent Exposures. They make their own bras and can custom fit. I bought some from them and they are great> I will not buy from anywhere else.
Hope that helps some!









I just looked them up. They seem really expensive to me.


----------



## canadianchick

DD wears sports bras and has for the past year or more. She doesn't need them but will need them soon enough. All her friends were wearing them and she and I figured it would be good for her to get used to wearing them.


----------



## free2be

I got my first training bra in the mail from my aunt when I was 9. I was so excited but soon grew to loathe bras...still do, I swear they were invented by the devil.

Anyway, I'm not so sure I would put my daughter into one until she is ready for an 'A cup'. I agree with the other mom about preserving childhood for as long as you can.

Not knocking those that do differently, just sharing my opinion.







:


----------



## Ruthla

They make bras for girls. Some companies size them like girls' underwear (M is an 8-10, L is 12. XL is 14) and some size them like regular bras- 28, 30, 32, 34,36. Generally if there's no cup size listed (ie 32 not 32A) then it either fits AA/AAA only, or it's stretchy and fits AA, A, and B cups.

I've gotten some in Target or Sears in the girls' underwear section. Limited too also makes some really nice ones. They're pricey but they're much more comfortable than the cheap ones (according to my daughters) and they hold up a lot better.

I bought my girls bras because they started getting self-conscious if their nipples showed through certain outfits. I've never insisted that they wear them. At this point, my 11yo (AA cup) wears bras with certain clothes but not others, and my 12.5yo (A cup) wears a bra all the time when she's dressed for going out in public.

I don't see what the big deal is about "preserving childhood" when her body is already changing. It's a piece of underwear; not a limitation on what she can do or a liscence to "act like a teenager" if she isn't one yet.


----------



## Bekka

Yeah, us too. From what I understand, "almost 9" isn't so much of "early blooming" these days.


----------



## Rockies5

I'm relieved to read this. My 8yo is head and shoulders taller over all girls (and boys) in her class. I was folding laundry recently thinking of getting her some sets so she's used to seeing them and is comfy with the idea before it's "needed".

very much a tomboy, so I think cami's are a creat idea. It's all I wear


----------



## funkygranolamama

i was one of the first girls in 4th grade to have a bra







. i was teased constantly. i wish they'd had shelf camis back then.


----------



## SamuraiMom

Don't know if anyone's mentioned Old Navy yet, but me and 9 yr old dd picked up a couple of "training bras" that were more like sports bras, but she is confortable in them and they keep everything under wraps with whatever she wears. They were pretty inexpensive too. This is a rather bitter sweet time







, but though she is budding in some ways, she's still my little girl most other ways!


----------



## Morganfyre

We've just gone through this with our 11 year old. When did our babies grow up?







:


----------



## UnschoolnMa

Dd got hers at Target I think. She was around 9 ish, and then she needed a "real bra" around 10.5 or 11.


----------



## JustJamie

Please make sure that if you get her a training bra/sports bra, it actually fits her...like have her professionally fitted.

When I developed, my stepmother didn't have me professionally fitted, she just bought me sports bras that flattened my buds, and that was it...I didn't get new ones for another year, despite the fact that I had grown into a full B cup and needed better support. My mom finally took me and had me professionally fitted for real bras, but I had already developed stretch marks on my breasts, which the bra lady (








) told me were from squeezing my Bs into a "training" sports bra.

Now you can't see the stretch marks because of all the stretch marks that occurred during my first pregnancy, but I was very self-conscious about them during my teens/early 20s.


----------



## Ruthla

I'd hesitate to take a young girl to be "profesisonally fitted" by one of those pushy ladies in a dept store. Some girls are really self-conscious and could be mortified by that kind of fitting help, if it's not done sensitively. Plus, many dept stores don't even have the girls' sized bras in the same section as the adult bras with the fitters.

I do my own bra fittings. When we buy bras, I go in the fitting room with DD and watch her try on all the bras, help her select the right size, etc. If you also have this skill, IMO it's better not to have the girl subjected to too many people staring at her new boobs!

From what I've heard about stretch marks and boobs- I suspect they got there because your breasts grew very quickly, not because you weren't wearing the right bras.


----------



## AlpineMama

I remember I had a couple of training bras, although I think I was in middle school by then, so more like 11 than 8 or 9, but not that much of a difference. It wasn't really a huge deal to me. One day we were just at the dept store buying underwear and I saw the training bras and got one.

As a matter of fact, I loved them so much, not for their "symbolism of approaching adulthood" but because of the comfort level, that I've rarely been without a bra since then. I don't have huge breasts by a LONG stretch but I hate being without a bra. I think they're the most comfortable thing ever. My mom hates them with a vengeance and I remember she would rush to take them off whenever we got home, cursing all the while about how horrible they were; the only time I go without is during a shower or during those intimate times.







(Or, well, while BF or attempting to!) I even sleep in them.


----------



## bluegrassgirl

Quote:


Originally Posted by *coldfeet* 
I hope this is the correct forum for this.

My 8 year old daughter (will be 9 in Nov.) has recently developed little buds. I doubt she's ready for an actual training bra, but I have no idea... what "sizes" do training bras come in?

Basically, it's like she needs two layers to hide her buds. She has some tank tops that have built-in bras and she's fine in those. But for her other knit tops, you can clearly tell that they are there.

I was an early bloomer and I remember that I had to beg my mom for a training bra because I was so embarrassed.

So what brand/where can I find something that would be appropriate for this age and this developmental stage?

Thanks so much!!

I had to start wearing a bra in 3rd. grade, and I remember Mom taking me to JC Penny and some lady in the underwear department measured me, so Mom would know what size I needed. I can't remember the name of the brand, though.
I know that Sears, JC Penny, and Victoria's Secret have bra fitters and can work with preteens to find a good fitting bra.

Jessie
(single mommy to Emma, 3 1/2 years and Angela, 2 years)


----------

