Does breastfeeding really cause "droopy breasts"?

[ObviouslyDroopyAcademic]

I've just been informed by a nursing postgraduate whose essay I'm marking that breastfeeding causes "droopy breasts".

Honestly, is this true? Can anyone give me an evidence, referenced answer?

[Name change, obviously, to protect myself for being bollocked for using MN for academic research the identity of the student.]

BF for 9 months. Never got them back . ALmost cried when I had to pour them into a bra in bravissimo; poor girl tactfully suggested I try 'a different style'.

Pg with no.2 and still no sign of fullness!

AGain though, I am 31 and had 15 years of E cups. I'm also almost 6 foot, so gravity has an awful lot to anwer for.

I BF DD until she was 2, and my boobs haven't changed at all.

Mine are firm and round after 15 months of BF, stopped 5 months ago. It's just a shame each is the size of my head. They were a c cup previously

I didn't breastfeed and I've a right saggy aggie.

Pregnancy causes droopy boobs, and so does getting fat, and so does getting old, and so does having massive knockers.

But my friend, who is also a 38E, breastfed for 18 months, and yet is 3 years younger - mine are droopier

"I know that the recieved wisdom from bf types is that it does not and its pregnancy that causes it but I cannot see how that is true what with the constant inflation/delfation with milk coming in and going out. I strongly suspect ulterior motives when i hear that."

Yes rollitherecollette, we "bf types" try to lure more women into thinking that it is in fact pregnancy, not bfeeding that makes breasts droopy. Then, when they decide to bfeed based on our "wisdom" we wait around the corner to cackle when their breasts droop! It's great!

no. its pregnancy that causes droopy breasts. and badly fitted bras, or no bras at all.
running bra less is also bad for breasts.

Nope, no droopy boobs here...BF 2 DCs for 9mths... they have however disspappeared along with the rest of me... BF has rid me of every ounce of fat

Well, my breasts did not change at all during pregnancy. When my milk came in however, they increased by 3 cup sizes! 14 months on I'm still bf and back to pre-preg size, but definitely droopier.

Gotta say from my pov that it was the bf wot did it guv.

It's been a lovely experience though

It was a study by the American Association of Plastic Surgeons iirc that said it was pregnancy not breastfeeding that caused the sag. Will try to find it.

Can't find the original study but here's how it was reported by the BBC at the time.

The original paper in the Aesthetics Surgery Journal 2007

My small boobs have drooped a bit, still look quite good but flat at the top of the chest. I BF'd two DC's for three months each. They were really flat and empty after I stopped BF'ing the second time but after about a year I think some fat did come back (is this even possible???) and they look more full then they did then.

My BF who has not BF's any of her three kids still has killer knockers [green]

I think it was the getting engorged shortly after birth than contributed to sag, plus them being several cup sizes bigger during pregnancy and breastfeeding... If I hadn't breastfed AND had taken medication to ensure milk didn't come in maybe they'd be less saggy....

at 'bf lobby misleading women'. Christ.

what BarryLellow said. but with more swearing. would love to find this mythical bf lobby one day.

and also, mine haven't drooped, but were never exceptionally pert to start with - think I was a 38DD before DS, and still bfing him now at 18 months, I'm a 38E. I think. Not taking my bra off to check in the office though :o

LMFAO at bf lobby

I had visions of a plush entrance hall with chaise longues, chandeliers and all that...specially for breastfeeding

rollit - you are so defensive, so misled and so wrong.

Breasts 'fine' after pregnancy? And then droop after breastfeeding?

Breasts change in pregnancy. This is anatomical fact. Your body does not know if you are going to bf. It makes these changes in structure whatever. The milk making and storing tissue is there, replacing much of the fat, at the time you give birth. You make milk whether or not you put your baby to the breast or not - this is biology. Your breasts are different immediately after pg whether you 'use' them or not.

Stopping bf after a short time, or not breastfeeding at all, makes no difference to whether your breasts will droop.

People's own individual experiences may appear different, and who knows - maybe some individuals add to the effect of droop by bf for a long time, and maybe some individuals reduce the droop by breastfeeding. But the studies of many women, and the expert opinion of cosmetic surgeons (and if anyone can see past the research studies and judge what they actually see, it's them!), and what we know of anatomy, show that speaking generally, breasts do not droop because of breastfeeding, but because of the changes that take place in pg.

Why that should be something you are scornful of, I have no ideas!

rollit - "constant inflation/delfation with milk coming in and going out".......

:)

You really don't know how this whole bf thing works, do ya?! Yet you think you know more about it than the flippin cosmetic surgeons??

My abdomen 'inflated' with pg and then 'deflated' - rather more than my breasts did. I have not got any stretch marks at all . I'm just that way. I don't have any 'droop' either.

Here's a thing: skin is elastic. If you're born with the genes for really elastic skin, it springs back. But with breasts, it's not about the skin. The shape and firmness of breasts is to do with the fat inside them (which is why we have breasts when we are not pg or lactating - unlike other mammals who do not have fat around their mammary glands and who only have obvious breasts at those times eg cats, dogs, horses. Dairy cows are artificially maintained in a lactating state). So when the fat is replaced after breastfeeding - when regular periods return and oestrogen levels get back to what they were - the breasts become fuller and lose their droop because oestrogen helps the body lay down fat in the breasts.

This is why when oestrogen levels fall from the early 40s onwards, leading up to the menopause, the breasts may not have as much fat/shape in them.

Nothing to do with bf, as I say.

What's wrong with droopy boobs anyway? Maybe we need to reframe how we see our bodies and realise that pregnancy and associated stretch marks, changes in shape etc are beautiful and should be celebrated (admittedly something I struggle with).

There are people who have vested interests in making us feel there is something wrong with our bodies so we'll buy their products/feel less confident or powerful etc etc.

FWIW my breasts were quite floppy and empty after nursing DD for 10 months but a year later they were almost the same as pre-pg although a bit bigger and maybe a tad less droopy. Don't know with DS as he's only 16 wks and I'm still nursing, but honestly I don't care.

Yes, I will defend information against misinformation, and knowledge against knee jerk reactions :)

I am not ignoring what a (very small) number of women have said here - there are always individual experiences and individual perceptions, as I said. Perhaps you did not read my post properly? Not everyone is the same.

Why be 'astonished' that I compare those very small numbers (I think there are 2 or 3 on this thread who believe it was bf wot did it and not pg) to the proper studies which found there was no effect? Is this not the sensible thing to do - to accept individual experience may be individual, but to acknowledge the information given as a result of studies of a great many more people?

I don't worry about my boobs dropping. I'm just going to have my nipples pierced then hook them up to my earrings.