To ask for your thoughts on extended breastfeeding?

[awmamma]

Catching up on Teen Mom UK and watching the bit about Charlie telling Shannon it was weird to still be breastfeeding her 2.5 year old.

Is it really that weird?

After breastfeeding, they were like long sausages down to her waist

I assume she was pregnant before she was breastfeeding?

My entire body is different after pregnancy - fuck all to do with breastfeeding!

"You make ignorant and offensive comments and ppl will call you on it."

"Honestly, why would you do it?"

Why would I say that I don't believe it's just pregnancy that makes boobs sag, and not breastfeeding? Because I have an opinion and believe that's not true . I believe breastfeeding does make boobs sag...Just like hundreds of others believe the same. I don't think that's dickish behaviour to say so.

Ok so the spaniel’s eats comments were made by goodlookingcreature oh the irony.

But then they got told they had the IQ of a wet quilt (and quite rightly so)
And then tabby challenged that comment.

Your boobs are affected by making milk. And by getting larger. They do this because of pregnancy - regardless of how a mother chooses to feed.
A mother may never breastfeed in her life but her pregnancy still would cause her to make milk and her breasts will get larger. Then baby is born, milk isn’t used and the breasts probably go back to the same size. The same way they will do when stopping breastfeeding AT ANY AGE. So it is completely justified to say that it is pregnancy, and not breastfeeding that affects boobs.

After breastfeeding, they were like long sausages down to her waist

I assume she was pregnant before she was breastfeeding?of course, but they fine at the end of her pregnancy and for a while after. It was after the long term breastfeeding that they changed.

I would guess (based on the physics of the situation) that BFing probably helps more than it hinders in breast saggyness.

That would be because the swelling of breasts is driven by pregnancy, and the shrinkage by stopping BF (or giving birth, if BF is not done).

Most things in your body adapt better when the change is slower. I would expect therefore that all the shrinkage in one rapid period after giving birth would lead to poorer tissue responsiveness than tapering off BF over a period of many years.

You get stretch marks from the initial rapid change in body shape...not from how long you stayed inflated.....

"Then baby is born, milk isn’t used and the breasts probably go back to the same size. The same way they will do when stopping breastfeeding AT ANY AGE. "

I don't believe so. I think they are massively more affected with long term breastfeeding. They do not go back to the same size after that!!!

of course, but they fine at the end of her pregnancy and for a while after

Because they were full of milk!!
And I would guess they changed after She stopped, yes? you will probably say no to save face

@TabbyMumz why are you so interested in the state of women's breasts?! Bit weird.

I think saggy boobs has a lot to do with your genetics. I was fortunate not to get much sagging at all despite mine being rather large. Perhaps I'm being naive but I would wager that most people wouldn't know I'm a mum just from looking at my boobs.

Then again I got terrible stretch marks all over my stomach during pregnancy, which again is largely down to genetics. You win some, you lose some.

tabby I think the concept you are missing is that a problem can be caused at one time by one thing, but only be seen at a later time after another thing has happened.

For example: a man has smoked all his life, but only discovers he is in the final stages of dying from lung cancer after he returns from his very first trip to America. Was it the trip to America that caused the cancer or the long term smoking?

The thing that happens just before you notice a change in your body, isn't necessarily the thing that caused the change.

Most peoples boobs swell extensively during pregnancy. You only notice the saggyness when the swelling is removed. This doesn't mean its the removal of the swelling that causes saggyness...it was the original over inflation that caused the saggyness.

BFing delays the time it takes for you to notice that pregnancy has caused your boobs to sag...it doesn't cause the saggyness....

They do not go back to the same size after that!!!

So they stay the same size after extended breastfeeding....? Therefore they will be even less likely to sag! If they go huge after pregnancy but then quickly go back to pre pregnancy size after then you will have sagging!

tabby I BFed my DD for 3 years. Boobs went back to normal size slowly as the BF tailed off.

I honestly believe they are less saggy as a result, because they didn't shrink back over a few weeks, but a few years.

"But then they got told they had the IQ of a wet quilt (and quite rightly so)
And thentabbychallenged that comment".

Not entirely true. I challenged the comment that saggy boobs are caused by pregnancy and not breastfeeding. I cannot accept that breastfeeding has no affect whatsoever on boobs..Especially long term breastfeeding.

I dont actually think theres anything terribly wrong with the fact that breastfeeding does that to boobs by the way, it's just a natural fact of life. Its part of nature.

Look - you cannot prove your point Tabby because you can not take your friend back in time, have her not breastfeed and then see what her breasts were like.
What we can do is learn about how the fat stores in the body change with pregnancy - what causes that change. How they change with breastfeeding etc and come to a logical and educated conclusion that it is in fact pregnancy that cause these changes, not breastfeeding.

Or we can continue to believe complete bullshit designed to not only try put women off breastfeeding, but make them feel ashamed of their post baby bodies to boot.

I also found that my boobs were only engorged and full of milk for the first few months, if that. Breasts really don't store much milk except in the crazy initial phase. After that they are producing milk when needed.

By the time the baby is past a year you are usually only doing a couple of feeds per day and there is little milk in the breast until its demanded.

So your breasts aren't staying over inflated for the whole time you BF, just the same few weeks/months at the start that everyone who is pregnant gets.

Not entirely true. I challenged the comment that saggy boobs are caused by pregnancy and not breastfeeding. I cannot accept that breastfeeding has no affect whatsoever on boobs..Especially long term breastfeeding

That’s what I meant. I was trying to show why you were getting blamed for the spaniel wars comment when it wasn’t you that said it.
But then you did go on to tell us your friends are like sausages (which is still a not very nice thing to say) and never once, apart from your last couple of posts, say anything positive about breastfeeding or women’s bodies changing after babies. So that is probably why you have been pounced on.

I cannot accept that breastfeeding has no affect whatsoever on boobs.

I think most people have at least one thing they believe with unshakable conviction in spite of all the evidence showing that they are wrong.

For some people its ghosts, or telepathy or that the world is flat. For tabby its that extended BF makes your boobs saggy.

There are worse things tbh.

TabbyMumz

Why are you not listening to what people are telling you.

There is a plethora of research out there which shows your position is wrong. You’re either supremely arrogant to think that your “belief” matters more than countless incidences of research or you’re just ignorant. Which is it?

"Sweetie, honey, console yourself all you want. You believed a misogynistic myth and you are understandably sore about it.
It must rankle. It must make you rather resentful that those of us who have also heard that myth thought, 'tough shit, baby is gonna get breastfed regardless' and fuck the patriarchal shaming involved in this noble, loving and life affirming practice"

It must cause the absolute rage to know all this...and then find out that our breasts still look fucking great!"

Oh dear....you really believe im beside myself don't you? No, I'm not. Not at all. Just calmly taking part in a discussion that is open to all. Nothing rankles. I'm not "sore" about anything . Why on earth would I be? How silly. Its not a myth, and I'm not sore. To be honest, I don't really care. Why would I.

Its not a myth

Ok. Please calmly link to the research you’ve undertaken to prove this. And no, “Pamela at no 7 breastfed for years and her tits are ruined” isn’t research.

"Why are you not listening to what people are telling you."
Err because I don't believe it. I am allowed to not believe it you know. Others on here have said the same, and hundreds of others off Mumsnet say the same. Im not in a minority. I'm always amazed how people inform people of stuff on mumsnet, therefore it must be true!!! And how people on here think others are not allowed an opinion on these things. I don't believe it. You think otherwise. To me that's fine. I'm not telling you that you must absolutely be wrong.