to be worried about my breasts post baby?

[AugustIsMyName]

Nearly half way through my pregnancy and my boobs have gone from a B cup to an almost DD. Still have just over 20 weeks to go and then milk coming in. Don't get me wrong I love my boobs this size, but I'm really concerned about what they'll look like when I finally stop feeding. I'm not a vanity fuelled woman and would consider myself modest, however changes like this, regardless of whether they are due to functional reasons are quite difficult to embrace. AIBU to be concerned? Do your boobs really deflate and sag as much as people try to scare you in to thinking post breast feeding?

Or only seen them while watching porn

AFAIK it’s the pregnancy and not the BF that affect the breasts. And smoking or being obese.

I would have still breastfed anyway even if id known, and tbh, I think most of the damage was done in pregnancy when they ballooned and when the milk came in, which would have happened whether id breastfed or not.

I've BF two children, one for 2 years and one for 4.5 years. Am usually an A cup at best but went up to a D cup when they were st their fullest (they vary in size so much while BF, especially at first when they're huge just before a feed the half the size afterwards!). I did worry a bit what I'd be left with afterwards, but they've just gone back to their normal size and shape. No stretch marks but I've probably been lucky with that as I didn't get any on my stomach either.

Thanks all! This is a really interesting read. Yay for boobs!

Agree with pp that it's pregnancy, not breastfeeding, which affects breasts. Why does breastfeeding always get the blame?

Mine have gone up from an A cup in my 20s to an F in my 50s. Never been pregnant. Not weight gain as it was after I’d lost a couple of stone a few years back that I went to get remeasured (John Lewis) because the DD I was wearing still didn’t fit and there was much side boobage. They are not droopy though, I use a cross trainer and kettlebell weights and I think that helps tone the muscles that hold them up.

@PercyPigAddict I guess the reason your breasts change in the first place is due to the production of milk and preparation for breast feeding which is why people associate it with breastfeeding. I'm sure breastfeeding or not breastfeeding will play a role also.

PercyPigAddict exactly, I still have larger than normal breasts due to BF but they were MASSIVE the first few weeks after baby was born, and that would have happened whether I'd BF or not.

I only had about a month between stopping BF DC1 and getting pregnant with DC2 but I felt pretty happy with how my breasts looked in that short window before pregnancy hormones kicked in again.

Appearance is important of course but it’s not everything. Pregnancy and breast feeding are MAJOR factors in reducing the risk of breast cancer.

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23022745

@L0UISA interesting, however a shame it doesn't do in to more detail re factors influencing breast changes (e.g. only mentions BMI as opposed to describing the real influence BMI has). I guess that's the trouble with only reading an abstract! You need the conclusion to really understand the implications! Thanks though. I've got breast cancer in my family which is one of the reasons I will be/express for two years (if feasible!)

*bf not be

"Why does breastfeeding always get the blame?"

I think it is probably women who don't want to breast feed for whatever reason, and use it as an excuse. I admit that I would judge a woman who uses that as an excuse rather than someone who says they just don't want to.

I've got "unsightly pendulum breasts" and my husband loves me more for growing and feeding our much-longed for baby. I used to have a great figure, now I look like a bag of out-of-date rice pudding. Meh, totally worth it.

It's the pregnancy itself that 'ruins the boobs, and ageing of course.

Ha, after 2.5 years of breastfeeding, My boobs look like Eeyore.

Of course breastfeeding is a factor. Mine grew and shrunk almost 2 cup sizes with every feed. That sort of growing and shrinking several times a day is very likely to change the shape of your breasts.

Pre-pregnancy I was a 32e was a 32g whilst feeding and am now a shrivelled and droopy 32d. That's life though, some people get lucky and others don't.

Bf is a factor but I’m currently pregnant with no2 (near the end) and my boobs have changed this time too.

DH thinks it’s marvellous, I on the other hand are thinking about poor DC2 and the fact that I’ll have to do some funny latches once my milk comes in as I’m now a GG

Mine went from a 34B to a 34F and have settled at 34E ever since having my DC (youngest now almost 10 years old). They are a bit saggier now and softer - not as peachy and perky - but I’m 40 not 25, so to be expected. I prefer them now, to be honest.

Changes in your body through pregnancy and after childbirth do take time to accept. I mourn my beautiful flat and smooth tum! But you will get used to your new body.

The other thing I would say, OP, is that it's great you want to bf and for so long. But IF you find you can't (which happens occasionally), don't beat yourself up about it.

Ditto the birth - you can plan whatever birth you want, but just be prepared to be flexible/that it might not happen as you've planned, and that's fine too.

I've seen so many friends put pressure on themselves because they ended up with a c section or with a baby on formula/mixed feeding and it's just not worth it. You'll have enough to deal with, with the sleep deprivation and the changes you have to make to your life and your relationship, without worrying about things you can't change!

Hopefully you'll be absolutely fine and feeding as you want for as long as you want, but I just wanted to say that it won't be the end of the world if you can't for any reason.

It’s definitely pot luck. I was enormous with twins and have one tiny stomach stretch mark, whereas a friend who had a much smaller Singleton bump got loads. But I can’t shift the weight and she has done so easily.

I was worried like you are but I breastfed all 5 of my DC and I just worked out and between the 5 of them I ended up breastfeeding for a total of 78 monthswhich is 6 years and 6 months I think?

My breasts are bigger now than when I first started breastfeeding I was a C cup when I started I'm now an E cup and they're still where they should be(not being tucked into my socks)for now

I breastfed mine for 9 months each.

My boobs are a bit bigger than they were, but still rather fab, if I say so myself . I definitely still pass the pencil test.

OP you will care less than you think once you have your baby.

Having a baby /child/teenager will turn your life upside down.

Things like whether your breasts are perky or not will be way down on the agenda.

It's my hips and ribcage that stayed larger than they were.

Mine ended up looking like spaniels ears. I had to have plastic surgery.

How old are you, OP? I ask because I think this is one positive of being an older mother - your body, by all accounts, doesn't 'go back' as quickly (or at all) but you also have lower expectations of it! I'm 33 weeks pregnant and also 33 years old, and my body, including my boobs, had already changed so much since I was 20 that it doesn't seem like a huge deal that it is changing now and is going to change a lot more. My boobs had definitely already begun a journey south! I think I'd have found it much harder when I was 23 and sort of assumed that I'd keep my youthful figure for ever (if only!), so would have seen pregnancy as 'ruining' that.