Breastfeeding, and sagginess

[honolula]

Breastfeeding, not pregnancy, left my breasts flat. When my girls were born, before my milk came in, they were full. During the first few months after my first daughter was born, when I would nurse or pump until empty, they were still pretty full. It wasn't just the milk.


So I'm confused, here. Why does everyone in the lactivism circles insist that breastfeeding does NOT cause sagging, even though they say that weight fluxuation DOES. When you're nursing, the weight and volume of your breasts fluxuates contantly throughout the day. Unless you gain a LOT of weight during pregnancy, it's not going to be close to the weight increase that comes with a breast full of milk. So, help me out here. It seems like intellectual dishonesty, I mean... I dunno.

[MommytoTwo]

I agree for myself... my breasts were pretty much the same after DS1. He was not breastfed. After nursing DD for 16 months there was definitely a difference. That fact has no bearing whatsoever on my breastfeeding decisions. I cant imagine making such a decision based on how my boobs look. Its not like I have ever looked like a model. I sort of feel like whatever changes my body has gone through with 3 babies kinda means something, kwim? Those saggy boobs nourished a baby (and its not like they are down to my kneecaps anyway), those stretch marks are there b/c I grew a person, those c-section scars are there because I gave birth to 3 children.

I dont know. Just my opinion.


Edited to add - every body is different. who is to say that it is or is not caused by nursing? I can imagine that for some it is nursing and for some it is pregnancy.

[art_teachermommy]

Hmmm...I don't guess I've ever heard of this mass cover-up among lactivist...
Any breastfeeding mom I've talked to will admit that their breasts may be a bit less pubescent after breastfeeding...but isn't that part of the natural order of things?

I personally love my slightly less full and less perky breasts that have given health and life to my son.

I consider scars, marks and sagginess beauty marks on women.

But that's just me.

[hubris]

I've been meaning to start a thread like this for ages!

While it's true that pregnancy and aging both do cause change in breast tissue, and we'll all end up droopier than we were when we were 18, whether we breastfeed or not, the "pregnancy, not breastfeeding, makes boobs saggy" argument seems a little off. I'm pretty sure that nursing each of my kids for about 2 years is a lot more wear-and-tear on my breasts than if I hadn't nursed them at all.

I think perhaps this is one pro-breastfeeding argument that's supposed to appeal to our sense of vanity, but it backfires due to faulty logic.

Of course, as ATM posted above, it's the natural order of things! Maybe instead of falsely reassuring mothers that nursing won't make them sag more, we could focus on encouraging women to care less about sagginess to start with?

[GooeyRN]

Mine were perky through out my first pregnancy. I delivered, they were still perky for a few months. As time went along, they began sagging more and more. I had perky breasts, then 18 months later they had the "rock in a sock" look. It wasn't pregnancy that changed my breasts. It was breastfeeding. They stayed saggy through my next pregnancy, and are long and flat now. To think they used to be SO PERKY only 27 months ago.

Even with the changes, I would still make the same decisions as I did. I would still provide my kids with the best start I could. I can always buy a nice expensive bra if I want the girls to look nice. No one has to know that I have saggy boobs.

[Meiri]

If this wasn't the case for the most part, why do mothers who never breastfed sag?

There's more than one factor in operation, since women who've never had children eventually sag too, but the argument that it's not breastfeeding (primarily) is to counter the nonsense that some use to try to justify not breastfeeding by saying they don't want to sag.

It is NOT breastfeeding alone that does the job, which is what that statement: "not going to nurse because don't want to droop" says.

If that were the case, nonbreastfeeding mothers would be as perky as teens, which is clearly NOT the case.

[Ziggysmama]

Hmmm...I don't guess I've ever heard of this mass cover-up among lactivist...
Any breastfeeding mom I've talked to will admit that their breasts may be a bit less pubescent after breastfeeding...but isn't that part of the natural order of things?

I personally love my slightly less full and less perky breasts that have given health and life to my son.

I consider scars, marks and sagginess beauty marks on women.

But that's just me

:

[xelakann]

I bet if you posted this one a more mainstream board where there was a lot more formula fed babies you'd find that a lot of them had/have sagginess too.

I remember when I was ttc (before I knew about MDC) I was on a message board where all the moms were talking about how pregnancy made their breasts sag... it seemed like a majority of the posters FF their babies. I even think the specific question was "Does breastfeeding make my boob sag" or something like that.

I'm not saying that BFing doesn't make them sag, to me it sounds like it could happen regardless of whether you BF or not.

Oh, I remember where I saw the post... it was on yahoo answers.

[the_lissa]

Well there is no way to know if your breasts would sag if you hadn't breastfed, but lots of sources show that women who do not breastfeed have just as much sagginess.

The weight and volume of my breasts never fluctuated.

[honolula]

Originally Posted by xelakann

I bet if you posted this one a more mainstream board where there was a lot more formula fed babies you'd find that a lot of them had/have sagginess too.

Of course. I'm not saying breastfeeding is the one and only cause of saggy breasts. It is one of the causes, tho, so it bugs me to read "pregnancy, not breastfeeding, causes breasts to sag," alllllll the tiiiime when I know it to be untrue. Let's tout its many merits and be realistic about its (extremely few!) drawbacks.

I don't mind, really. I have stretch marks, too. And laugh lines. It's all just evidence of a full life.

[honolula]

Originally Posted by the_lissa

Well there is no way to know if your breasts would sag if you hadn't breastfed, but lots of sources show that women who do not breastfeed have just as much sagginess.

The weight and volume of my breasts never fluctuated.

What sources are these? Really, I'm curious.
I'm sure I wouldn't have a 21 year old's bust now that I'm 29, but it's not just coincidence that my breasts changed significantly in shape and volume during the time I was nursing my first child and ceased changing once she weaned, didn't significantly change until I had another child, repeat.

[guestmama9904]

it seems really hard to quantify when the saggyness happens and if it is even related to breastfeeding or pregnancy, I mean age alone makes your breast size and shape change. I was a teen when I concieved my son so naturally my breasts were taught and perky, plus they were a smallish size 32 B. after birth my breasts were ginormous, like a 34 c or almost a d, then after 6 months they seemed to get smaller but still usually felt full. i breastfed for 5 years so its hard to say at what point they became what they are today but i dont really care. i like my breasts, i love that they nourished my boy for so long and i hope to be able to breastfeed more babies in my future!

[annettemarie]

Nursing not behind saggy breasts

Breastfeeding does not cause ptotic breasts, study finds

[calipigeon]

http://www.plasticsurgery.org/media/...ng-Breasts.cfm

[tinuviel_k]

I know for a fact that pregnancy, not breastfeeding, caused my breasts to sag. How do I know this? Stretch marks. In the last three months of pregnancy my breasts developed tons of stretch marks radiating out from the center. I thought it looked pretty, like a flower. Of course now that my breasts are not swollen from pregnancy and are not filled up with milk they are droopier than they once were. But I'm sure that even if I hadn't breastfed they would be just about as sagging as they are now. They stretched a lot in pregnancy!

[the_lissa]

Here is one source:

http://www.hon.ch/News/HSN/609894.html

However, the study authors did conclude that pregnancy itself was a factor. The degree of sagginess increased each time a woman was pregnant. Smoking was another factor that contributed to breast sagginess.

I just find it so bizarre that you think people just pulled this out of their butts and started saying it to be dishonest.

[Mama Poot]

Breastfeeding has definitely changed my breasts, but thats par for the course in my opinion. If someone is that worried about it, maybe they aren't ready to have kids. My breasts are much fuller and perkier right now because I am pregnant, but before I got pregnant they were deflated, pitiful B cups that were starting to look like dried fruit (but they still produced lots of milk for my 1 year old!). I'm not opposed to having cosmetic work done once I am done having children and breastfeeding, in fact I fully intend on having my breasts and tummy done in the future. But again, these changes would never have stopped me from giving my children the best nutrition possible! I guess that is why people might be hesitant to "tell the truth" about how the natural course of pregnancy and lactation changes the breasts, some people might really base their decision whether or not to nurse their baby out of fear that they'll be "ruined".

[honolula]

Originally Posted by the_lissa

I just find it so bizarre that you think people just pulled this out of their butts and started saying it to be dishonest.

Yes, well, I must admit that I did say I thought there was a conspiracy of evil lactivist representatives from all nations sitting at a huge round table in a top secret underground hide-out rubbing their hands together, petting smug cats, etc while trying to devise a master plan to further their breastfeeding "agenda" at the expense of perky, frivolous young women worldwide.



Waaaaaaaaaaait a second... I never said that!

Seriously? I would think it was bizarre if you'd never heard of a person's beliefs being swayed by a bias, before.

So, I read the links (you know, the sources I asked for?), and it looks like they are all from 2 studies. A few issues with these studies: they both pertain ONLY to women who have undergone breast lifts. I'm not all that surprised that there isn't a big difference in the level of ptosis among women seeking breast lifts who have nursed, and those who haven't. They all have sagging, they're all there for that reason.
So all of the women who nursed gave birth, but not all of the women who gave birth nursed. I don't argue that pregnancy doesn't contribute to ptosis in many women, but the study seems to assume that it does, and that it would follow that a woman who breastfed would have additional ptosis.
This logic doesn't apply to me since I didn't have any noticeable sagging as a result of either pregnancy, so the sagging I got from nursing wasn't compounding sagging from pregnancy.

[MilkTrance]

I think it is just genetics -- mixed with a bit of external factors (weight gain, whether you breastfeed, etc.).

I was one of those women who religiously applied cocoa butter, vitamin E, all sorts of concoctions to my pregnant belly and I still got a LOT of stretchmarks (which are still really visible, 8 months later).

I also got the saggy boobs.

I know, I'm just a lucky gal.

[JoyfullySubversive]

Originally Posted by hubris

I've been meaning to start a thread like this for ages!

While it's true that pregnancy and aging both do cause change in breast tissue, and we'll all end up droopier than we were when we were 18, whether we breastfeed or not, the "pregnancy, not breastfeeding, makes boobs saggy" argument seems a little off. I'm pretty sure that nursing each of my kids for about 2 years is a lot more wear-and-tear on my breasts than if I hadn't nursed them at all.

: Yes!

Yes, pregnancy alone affects our breasts.
Perfectly true!
Yes it is also genetic.
Perfectly true!
And yes, no matter what our breasts look like in the end, it was all totally worth it!
Perfectly true.
And yes breastfeeding absolutely changes our breasts.
PERFECTLY TRUE!

I find it a silly statement as well. And the argument makes me feel low. I like to think the the side of right and good can be honest. Giving our babies the best, changes our body. That is a fact.

And I think it's awesome. I feel so incredibly sexy as a mother of three, pregnant with the fourth. I have stretch marks, smaller breasts (I'm looking forward to those pregnancy pounds ), and a slightly fleshy tummy. I feel so confident and alluring, like I never did with my taught little teenage figure. I feel like a woman. I'm not shy during sex or at the beach, like I was back then.
I'm an effing goddess!
And yet, I can admit that breastfeeding changed my breasts forever!

We need to change what women think their bodies are for, not color the facts.