after you had your baby, did your boobs eventually return to their pre-pregnancy size?

[lazyemma]

hello! this is one of the many pressing issues I'm worrying about at the moment (I'm only 7 weeks gone and I'm beginning to get on my own nerves, never mind everyone else's).

I had a breast reduction 2 years ago - I used to be a 34G, reduced to 34D - and since I've been pregnant, my errant bosoms are already straining out of an E cup. I'm resigned to having massive mams whilst I'm pregnant, and obviously while I'm breastfeeding (if I'm able to, but that's a whole other headache) but are they ever likely to go down to their pre-pregnancy size, or might they stay bigger? Does breastfeeding make a difference either way?

Apologies - I know this might seem like a trifling concern but I really used to hate the way I looked. I'm a bit distressed by the thought that I went through all the trauma of the operation and the months of recovery and the scars that were left, and it might all have been for nothing.

[WigWamBam]

Once I finished breast-feeding they went back to their pre-pregnancy size (albeit with an added droop factor). Which was a relief because a K-cup when you're my size is a nightmare.

[Dior]

Message withdrawn

[madrose]

it took a while but yes back to pre-pregnancy size. They steady got smaller and smaller, even though I BF, when I stop BFing at 12 mths it wasn't long till they got back to where they were, if not smaller.

[peanutbutter]

hello, i think it might depend, in part at least, on how much weight you put on. I had a breast reduction 10 years ago, went from 32F to 32D but put on weight over the years and just pre-ds I was 34DD. I piled on weight while pregnant and ds is now nearly a year old and i've still got a stone to go. i went to debenhams earlier today and got measured for the first time since pregnancy - now a 34F. The thing is, i know it'll make a difference if i lose some more weight. On the plus side, they're still a lovely shape (the "old" ones were so sagging the nipples touched my waistband and i was only 23 when i had the op).

i'm blathering - not sure if this helps??

[Cailyn3]

I had tiny boobs to start and they just got smaller, droopier and covered in stretchmarks after I stopped bf my ds2 - in a discussion about various sized boobs one slightly tipsy Christmas I looked down at my chest and said "my son ate mine!"

[MagicGenie]

Mine weren't too bad onthe droop/stretch mark front....but did shrink.

From a DD to a C.

They're definitely 'emptier' and have less 'oomph' than before.

[shhhh]

mine didn't..mine went back to "premilk" size if that makes sense. I did have around 1 stone to loose a year after I had dd so maybe thats why. I'm now pregnant again and dd is 15 months and my norks are HUGE...

[CountTo10]

Mine have gone back down and if anything are smaller than they were. They are in really good shape as well - I don't have any extra skin but they're not necessarily as 'pert' as they were. I got stretchmarks by my 8th week as they exploded so quickly but they have now faded. I used a lot of creams etc on my boobs throughout my pregnancy which might have helped my skin keep its niceness so I'd advised keeping them well oiled!!!!

[mousiemousie]

from 36B to 38A/B with stretch marks . Still pass the pencil test though

[lazyemma]

ooh, thanks everybody - didn't expect so many helpful replies so quickly. Cor, WigWam - a K cup! I can see that happening to me, at this rate. Anyway, it's reassuring that most of you seem to be saying that yours eventually returned to their old size.

peanutbutter - did you manage to breastfeed? I'm sure I read somewhere that the longer the gap between your reduction and your pregnancy, the more likely it is that you'll be able to.

[lazyemma]

By the way, I already have lots of stretchmarks from when my boobs first expanded seemingly overnight at the age of 15. If it's any consolation to those of you who got them when pregnant, they do fade eventually. I can hardly see mine now.

[peanutbutter]

i didn't bf but it was verrrrry complicated. at the time of the op, the consultant told me in very blunt terms that due to the type of reduction they were doing, i would never be able to breastfeed. i accepted this because i truly loathed my boobs & desperately wanted the op.

so - fastforward 10 years and i'm pregnant. i've bought the bottles, formula, steriliser etc etc and the notion of breastfeeding never occurs to me, not one second. Then, about a week before ds came, i started to leak from my R boob. i can't explain this to you and i'm a bit worried how this will make me seem to people reading this - but i felt revulsion . i absolutely hated it. i told dh but nobody else and went ahead and formula fed ds anyway. i'm planning another baby and already know i'll be bottle feeding.

[crazydazy]

Mine are bigger now than they were before I had my first child but I put that down to the fact that I now weigh more than I did before having children.

Can't win really.

[Elibean]

I didn't, but not by much - I went from a b cup to a c cup. No stretchmarks either, but thats because I'm an Old Mum and apparently we're all out of elastin anyway

[lazyemma]

peanutbutter, I can understand why you'd feel that way: I'm sure I'd feel the same if I'd been told my boobs wouldn't produce milk and then one of them started leaking all of a sudden, out of the blue.

The reduction I had, the consultant left the nipple attached to a sort of stalk of nerve and blood supply (apologies: disgusting) before repositioning it - I think that's quite a recent technique. It means there's a greater chance that I'll be able to breastfeed, but even if I can, it won't be easy, and I'm not really looking forward to finding out either way.

thanks also, crazydazy and Elibean. I guess the weight/boob size thing makes sense, really.

[SSSandy]

Same size but one cup larger

[peanutbutter]

well, good luck then with whatever happens. please try not to worry too much about your expanding size, although i do understand how you feel.

[CurrantBun]

Not a direct response, but a related question - did your boobs grow steadily throughout pregnancy, or did they grow for a while then stop, then grow again later?

I'm 13+4, and couldn't fit into my usual 32B bras from about 7 weeks, but I'd kept some 32C bras just in case I got pregnant (I was 32C previously, but my boobs got slightly smaller when I came off the Pill). I'm still comfortably in the 32Cs as after the initial increase, boobs haven't grown any more to date.

I'm hoping I won't have to buy too many new bras of varying sizes as pregnancy progresses - just wondered what others' experiences have been?

[NomDePlume]

Yes, in fact mine didn't grow much during pg and bf. I started at a 32E, went up to a 34E/F, and back down to a 32E/F.