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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

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Original poster

Big boobs = lower milk supply?

22 replies

MrsPurr · 07/02/2010 20:06

Shoot me down if you wish but I wondered if anyone else thinks there might be link between having bigger boobs and lower milk supply? My DS is ALWAYS hungry and I have never been able to express more than about 50ml at a time -- from my enormous 34K knockers! It seems (anecdotally from friends at least) that those with smaller boobs actually seem to produce more milk. I know how much you express is not a reliable measure of how much milk you are producing, but some of these girls can get 200ml in 10 min.! Maybe the extra fat you have in bigger boobs means you have less milk-producing tissue?

What do people think?

OP posts:

rainbowinthesky · 07/02/2010 20:07

No, never heard of this and cannot see how it could possible be scientifically true. Expressing is absolutely no indication of how much milk you have.

TheProvincialLady · 07/02/2010 20:11

Mine are 28GG and I have absolutely gallons of milk and no trouble expressing(sorry). The amount you can express is no indication of how much your DS can get, and the fact that he wants to feed a lot is likely to be perfectly normal and nothing to worry about. How old is he?

waitingforglasto · 07/02/2010 20:17

As I understand it there are differences in terms of storage capacity and fat content (though this obv varies with the time of day and age of dc as well) but these arent related to size - in fact nothing is related to size.

elvislives · 07/02/2010 20:24

Mine are 34H and I have no problems with supply; but was never able to express more than about 2-3 oz (sorry can't think in ml).

You don't say how old your DS is- could he be having a growth spurt?

GlastonburyGoddess · 07/02/2010 20:26

Ive always wondered this as mine are 40g/h and balloon when feeding, but as others have said its not true.
I just think that some women just produce more/more quickly than others.
FWIW Ive never been able to produce more than about 20/30ml from each breast when pumping and that takes about an hour.

CMOTdibbler · 07/02/2010 20:30

You have pretty much the same amount of glandular tissue in your breasts whether you are an A cup or H cup (I had to study this when qualifying to check mammography units).

Expressing is an odd thing though - some people have real trouble with it, and different pumps make a huge difference. I expressed 5 days a week for a year when working with my Ameda, no problem at all. Couldn't get 10ml with a manual pump

MrsTittleMouse · 07/02/2010 20:31

Mine are huge and I've had two very hungry girls - who have gained weight at a rate of knots - so they are obviously able to get plenty out!

I've never had much success expressing though. Perhaps breast pumps are designed for smaller breasts, so you don't get so good a seal with larger ones? I certainly had to squish mine into weird shapes to get any milk out.

WoTmania · 07/02/2010 20:32

So how would you explain all those people who say 'oh no, I couldn't BF. I'm so flat-chested'?

waitingforglasto · 07/02/2010 20:34

I always thought ease of expressing was all about the speed of letdown or in fact having an overexcited let down. Sometimes a nightmare for baby - cue lots of pulling off and spluttering and overfeeding but good for expressing...

thisisyesterday · 07/02/2010 20:37

am a 32H and make gallons of milk! sorry

Original poster

MrsPurr · 07/02/2010 20:38

WoTmania I can't explain it at all, but anecdotally big boobs = less milk seems to be the case with the people I know! Clearly not here though -- interesting.

'Twas only a theory. My DS is 12 weeks and am sure it is a growth spurt, although he has seemed to have been having a growth spurt more or less for most of his short life so far! I use a Medela Swing electric pump, it's boring enough with an electric pump, having to manually do something at the same time would be even worse...

OP posts:

thisisyesterday · 07/02/2010 20:39

the people who say they couldn't because they are flat-chested may have had other problems that they have atrtributed to their flat-chestedness.

our LLL leader once said that if you have very, very, small breasts then it may be that they can "store" less but you can still make plenty enough for however many babies you are feeding, just you may need to feed them a little more frequently.

there is no reason why a flat-chested person couldn't feed though.
they've either been misinformed, or had other problems which have then been blamed on it,

GlastonburyGoddess · 07/02/2010 20:39

oh and it didnt make a difference what pump I used, I have had a manual and a ameda duel lactaline, same result.
Also I have never experienced "let down", no idea what that feels like as it never happened!

Oblomov · 07/02/2010 20:41

no probs here.E now, G when pg. no let down feeling either.
could express 8oz in 15 mins or so.

ByThePowerOfGreyskull · 07/02/2010 20:41

sorry I don't think size has anything to do with milk production.
Friends with very small breasts have both had loads of milk and very little, and friends with huge breasts who are the same.
I have large breasts and had an abundance.

RaggedRobin · 07/02/2010 20:51

i sympathise with the "k" size boobs - mine were the same when breastfeeding. a wee bit off topic, but the only thing i did notice with having big boobs was that it was much more comfortable to feed lying down. with dd we pretty much always fed lying down.

Original poster

MrsPurr · 07/02/2010 20:53

I have never been able to figure out feeding down, wish I could! But on the other hand my friend who can feed lying down can only really feed that way and finds it difficult sitting up, so it's swings and roundabouts innit.

OP posts:

RaggedRobin · 07/02/2010 20:58

heh heh... yeah, not much use in a cafe!

Pingpong · 07/02/2010 20:59

My boobs are big and I had oversupply with DD and very quick let down. I used a manual pump and could express pretty quickly most of the time.
I would feed lying down when doing night feeds just to keep warm but day feeds were always sitting up.

theboobmeister · 07/02/2010 21:01

Breast size is unrelated to milk production (exception is for women who've had breast reduction surgery). Everyone has the same amount of breast tissue but different amounts of fat ...

Tryharder · 07/02/2010 21:15

Glastonburygoddess, I have never felt letdown either, also can't express, never, ever leak, never feel particularly engorged ... bf has always been a real act of faith for me which is probably why I've found it hard.

Anecdotally, I sort of agree about the big breasts - low milk thing although as others have said it's probably nonsense if viewed scientifically. All the really successful bfeeders I have seen in RL have always been very slim, flat chested women.

I was once told by a large breasted friend that it's harder for large breasted women to bf as the baby has to work harder to get the milk out (i.e there is more fat covering the milk ducts whereas the milk ducts on smaller breasted women are nearer the surface iyswim). She was probably talking crap....

theboobmeister · 07/02/2010 21:51

Not just probably talking crap - actually talking crap

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