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.]

And on the days you fancy a change, just tuck them into your knickers, DrSeuss :)

it is in fact pregnancy that causes it not actually breastfeeding, remember it is pregnancy that causes yur boobs to enlarge with milk!

the fact you breastfeed does not make any difference, i have smaller boobs now but mainly because i dropped to size 6-8 after my third baby and still bf.

Mine went droopy for a while when I stopped bf but then perked back up again.

Well, just for the record, I stated earlier on the thread that mine were droopier after BF. However, I have no way of knowing whether they would have been exactly the same had I not BF. Therfore, I may well have been pregnancy that changed them rather than BF.

Also, on a purely personal level, even if you'd told me beforehand that they'd be fine after pregnancy but that BF would make them sag, I would still have BF because at that point it's not really about me.

Nobody else notices if I wear a well-fitting bra. Also, it hasn't seemed to put DH off as I'm now pregnant with no.4!

I did not quote any 'study', rollit. Read my post. I talked about research studies and the expert opinion of cosmetic surgeons - I did not call the cosmetic surgeons' paper a 'study', although actually it is one in that they studied the effects of bf and pg.

I was explaining how they judge what they actually see and how it backs up the other studies, and what we know about anatomy.

There are other studies that show breastfeeding is unconnected with 'droop'

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19083576

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20354434

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15499956

I don't suppose anyone can know for sure what the effect will be in any individual woman and I have consistently acknowledged this. But the evidence, I would say, is clear - generally speaking, it is pregnancy that has the effect.

Waiting for rollit to apologise for her misreading of my post :)

In my experience it isn't true. Initially they are kind of empty but go full again. I have no regrets and am happier with my body now than before I had DC although i am far from physically perfect.

Even if it did cause sagging though i would still have breastfed. It is silly that society objectifies and sexualises the breast- but not ALL breasts, just a pert young, often fake, breast. It's frankly quite weird. It doesn't happen in all cultures which suggests it is our culture which has constructed this obsession.

I know several people who didn't even try breastfeeding and they are very saggy (their own description not my observation!). How sad it is that we feel judged by our breasts which, naturally sag with age. How many grannys have pert tits anyway? Isn't it abit macabre to encourage women to cut open their breasts and shove plastic things in so that we look better to men? How many women convince themselves that it is 'for them'?

Mine are fab after breastfeeding for 3.5 years, I wonder if sudden stopping feeding has any impact. I went from a 32 D to a 32 F but obviously after 3.5 years they went slowly back to 32 E and now I'm pregnant have gone back up to a 32 F, if I didn't BF feed after the birth would they sag more???

Regardless, at postgrad level your student should not make fatous comments without referencing credible sources, so give her a D- from us!!!!

jellybeans, sexual connotations and ideas about beauty and allure connected with breast size and shape are cultural, you are dead right :)

We should be able to celebrate and admire droop, stretch marks, bags under eyes and grey hairs as the badges of age and wisdom and experience, and see beauty in them for that reason.....but we don't :(

I am a tad vain about certain parts of my body, including my breasts, and I would not be pleased if they drooped and sagged a lot before their time because of bf, pg or whatever....but in my case they have not.

I breast fed for 9 months , no sagging.. i am a 34c

Everyone different i guess.

Pregnancy, not feeding, causes changes. And age reduces density anyway. Gentle exercise like yoga, pilates, Alexander technique, whatever suits you, will help your muscles support those glands.

Fed mine for 6 years. Mammogram technicians always complain that they're too dense, and check their DOB records... you can never please everyone.

If you're already pregnant, the changes are already there. If you aren't, they'll come with age. IMHO surgery or posture/weekly yoga class, that's the real choice. Me, I can do incisions as long as it's not my body.

rollit - when I said 'expert opinion' I meant 'expert opinion'. Someone else called it a study. I did not (although it was a perfectly respectable evidence-based opinion taken from many observations).

The 'common sense' you keep alluding to would support the changes in women's bodies being related to pregnancy, because that is when the major anatomical changes in the breasts take place.

Actual lactation doesn't have much effect on the breast tissue - and as virtually all mothers lactate, whether or not they breastfeed, they will experience these changes, too. I suppose you might consider that the use of this milk-making and storing tissue might have some effect on the breasts, but as it designed to flll up and empty, and as then this tissue is later replaced by pristine fat, 'common sense' would strongly suggest that any effect on the breasts is temporary.

Of course this is not going to mirror everyone's experience but at the moment, there are only 2 or 3 on this thread who are sure they have seen sag as a result of bf, and several more who have not. This is not a survey! So neither you nor I can use it as evidence of a viewpoint.

I don't know what you mean about science proving the pope is not catholic etc. I can only assume you think science is a load of rubbish, we should ignore it, and only form views based on our own personal experience and our own view of common sense, and never be swayed by evidence-based arguments.

Good luck with that as you go through life :)

"I don't know what you mean about science proving the pope is not catholic etc. I can only assume you think science is a load of rubbish, we should ignore it, and only form views based on our own personal experience and our own view of common sense, and never be swayed by evidence-based arguments.

Good luck with that as you go through life"

:o is it wrong to have a little crush on you tiktok?!

rollit in that case, surely genetics 'causes' sagging, regardless of how you feed your child?

Rollit - 'What you say (and what those studies purport to show) just does not chime with my personal expereince and the experience of many other bf and non bf mums I know, and indeed the experience of some people on this thread. It is furthermore contrary to common sense.'

The plural of anecdote is NOT data, and this is that Tiktok is trying to get across.

My nan and her brothers and sisters all smoked heavily all their lives. Apart from one, they all lived to ripe old ages. Based on this I could say smoking doesn't reduce life expectancy. However scientific research says actually it does.

You really need to be able to distinguish between the two.

rollit - I'm polite enough to take your arguments (!) seriously, that's all, and aim to show you what a pile of solipsistic tosh they are...not sure if that's what you mean by getting under my skin :)

We are talking about droopy boobs, ladies. Not the NHS, not education, not in fact anything which affects anything of any importance at all! Is it really necessary to get so excited? Any chance we could take the sense of outrage and channel it into something other than our aging tits?

Off out now, but I don't use personal insults, though I will make disparaging remarks about someone's arguments if they persist in them, and I did so here.

I will make an exception now though - you are a leedle bit boring, rollit :)

Sorry 'bout that!