Boobs - The Truth

[Flumpreviouslybutwhatdoiknow]

Is it true that it is being pregnant that ruins your boobs not breast feeding.

Comments from both breast and bottle feeders. How are your boobs post children?

I am still breast feeding twice a day, dd is 8 months old. Mine are decidely more floppy than they were before this whole baby making began.

[bonniej]

I bottle fed both of mine. I flopped a bit when pg with ds (now 16) and really panicked when I got pg again with dd, but they didn't change any more at all. It isn't so much the flopping that bothered me, it was the enlarging of the aerola (sp?) that I hated. Floppy boobs with big nipples is not a great look

[TracyK]

what times do you still bf at? my ds is 7 mo and I don't know if i'm delaying the weaning off me as I keep expressing when he's not here/wanting a feed. But I look forward to the day that my boobs aren't all veiny!

[Skate]

That's so bizarre - dh asked me last night (think when we watching Trinny and Sus and they were on about boobs, sorry 'tits'!) whether it was pregnancy or breastfeeding that 'ruined' them!

I decided it was a bit of both but they probably look worse if you've breastfed - I just thought all that sucking would drag on the muscles? I could be talking b***s though! I haven't breast fed so mine are not 'saggy', but just got a few, hardly noticeable, stretchmarks from when they got bigger when pregnant.

[Bunglie]

Felt like two cannonballs under my arms when pregnant!
Afterwards they shrivelled back to two small walnuts that flop under my arms like fried eggs when lying down.....smaller than before I got pg.

Well... you did ask!

[Flumpreviouslybutwhatdoiknow]

Tracyk - I b-feed at about 7-8am before work. Then at about the same time in evening after dd's bath before I put her to bed.

My folks look after her in the day, they make 9 oz of formula for her but she never drinks more than an ounce or two (usually that in the afternoon) They usually mix milk in with cereal for her pudding - so she gets some milk in day time. But truthfully she doesn't seem bothered about formula milk, doesn't seem to like it much, doesn't seem to miss boobs in day any more either.

[Flumpreviouslybutwhatdoiknow]

I ask the initial question because they always say it is pg that does the boobs in....... but I think they just say that to get you to bfeed.

I mean what if I have 4 kids and boob feed all for a year. That is 4 years of b-feeding - will I need a boob job????????????????

[Blackduck]

I was told it was the pg too and that if you din't want knackered boobs - don't get pregnant....! i suppose there is a kind of logic cos they change shape during pg whether you bf or not.
Mine, i'd say haven't really changed....bf for about 3 months

[motherinferior]

Less pert, left one (more productive) slightly smaller, although prolonged b/fing of dd2 (I still feed her in the morning) does not appear to have wreaked more havoc. However, I do fall into the age-group where people sigh and say 'well, what do you expect, you are a knackered old bat after all'.

Nice underwear helps.

[Pidge]

Well, I breasfed dd for 2 years and am now pregnant again, and other than getting bigger during pregnancy and early bf I haven't noticed any disastrous consequences! Maybe I'm just not vain enough!

And just think what extended bf does for lowering your risk of ovarian cancer, osteoporosis, breast cancer etc. Maybe it's worth having saggy boobs!

[Blackduck]

MI - I'm in that catagory too so perhaps age had done the damage before pg and bf could even get a chance hence the fact I haven't noticed the difference!
the term 'pert' and my boobs parted company years beofre ds appeared on the scene

[muddaofsuburbia]

Hmmm. I don't know really.

I was a 36D before pg. Went up to 34J while b/f and fed ds for just over 17 months.

That was nearly 8 months ago now and I'm now 32G but just as "firm" as I was before pg. I may have a massive cup size and a small chest measurement but I'm not droopy at all - go figure!

It could all go wrong after more than one baby?

[Branster]

i won't read the other messages here so i don't get influenced by their content.

this is my very own experience and the way i see it happening, no scientific back-up or anything like that:

in my case pregnancy made my breasts considerably bigger which led to strech marks and drooping (they are now very low as compared to what they used to be). having returned to their previous size after finishing breastfeeding, i assume that the estra size meant the skin streached and it didn't go back to it's original size itself, but the inside did (hard to explain) hence empty sort of breasts hanging down.

the texture is not the same either, they are not firm as they used to be and i think this might be due to constant changing shape during breastfeeding (full, empty, full etc)

looking back i think if i did not breastfeed, it is a very good chance they would have maintained their fullness.
they would have still gotten lower and strech marks (i'm sure that happened during pregnancy)

and pregnancy itself makde the nipples much more visible, they are now dark but breastfeeding seemed to make them bigger too, sort of streched outwards and also permanently hard (deffinetly that's the breastfeeding).

all in all my breasts are completely ruined and i used to love them before, one of my best assets, all gone for eternity...

if i coud turn back the time to start again from the beginning i would not breastfeed again. but that's me and i know lots of people would totally disagree with this statement.

btw, i breastfed for 1 year.

[Branster]

oh, and i don't think they'll get anymore different from now for you Flumpreviouslybutwhatdoiknow even if you stop bfing today or keep going for another 6 months. all the changes have probably happened by now and you'll see the full results (hopefully nothing to drastic if you're lucky) after you stop bfing.

[motherinferior]

DP informs me mine are a bit lower, but quite honestly they are still pretty ok as 34DDs go

[Marina]

and as 34DDs went, mine did as they say MI.

[yoyo]

Before breastfeeding I read a book of "written by mums" variety that said that post-pregnancy and breastfeeding her breasts resembled a Puppy's ears, i.e. soft and droopy. I didn't believe it at the time but 3 children down the line and after years of feeding I'd say she was right. She forgot to mention that they seem to want to move towards your armpits too (too much breastfeeding whilst lying down?). I'm not even well-endowed!

[Flumpreviouslybutwhatdoiknow]

God, this is so depressing.

Dp used to call them PB's - perfect breasts - and they were!!!

I am gutted now. Not for me, I don't really care. But for him. We were only together a few months before I got up the duff by accident.

We are very happy but I feel he's missed my greatest titty moments. he he. I'm over 30 now, and was with men I loved less in my 20's.

Sob sob.

better do some work now, done nowt all day.

By the way am changing name to Flum RIGHT NOW

[MTS]

they were never that great before being pg, and don't think they have particularly changed following PG and a few weeks of bfing. When I was PG i was very excited to get up to 38D, but was most disappointed that my nursing bras were 34C (about as small as they make them!!)

[aloha]

ALL the structural changes to your breasts happen during pregnancy. The composition changes.Your fat migrates (I know where it went too!!) and is replaced by all the mechanisms for making milk. After all, your body doesn't know that you will bottle feed before your baby is born, does it? It is ready to breastfeed from day 1 (and before), so believe me, the changes DO happen during pregnancy. Mine didn't change hugely, considering I was nearly two years older after being p/g and breastfeeding in my late thirties and I gained quite a lot of weight, both of which would change the appearance of the rest of my body. I mean, my bum is a different shape since I got pg and I didn't breastfeed my baby with it!

[aloha]

BTW sucking can't affect 'the muscles' as breast tissue isn't muscular at all.

[motherinferior]

I am now rivetted by the idea of migrating fat. Migrating. Seeking a happier, warmer home for the winter. My mind - never a very profound one - is boggling.

[aloha]

I find when I'm pregnant, other people's fat migrates to find a nice warm home in my trousers.

[aloha]

I find when I'm pregnant, other people's fat migrates to find a nice warm home in my trousers.

[eefs]

got stretchmarks when pregnant, not from when I had supersized BF boobs.
for DS2 I fed/expressed from one side only and had months of being obviously lopsided - both boobs are the same size now
both are decidedly not as nice as they were
=> conclusion pregnancy not BF made the difference to me.