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Pregnancy

Talk about every stage of pregnancy, from early symptoms to preparing for birth.

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Original poster

boob size and breast feeding?

31 replies

Spuddybean · 12/06/2011 03:52

This may sound odd (i suffer from insomnia and it's playing on my mind) but despite what i have been told; that the size of your boobs has no relation on breastfeeding, i am concerned. My dads side of the family including me are small busted (we are all a cups) and my sister, aunt and nan could not bf but my mum (who is a c cup from a large booby family) could.
I am ttc but am wondering if i will have trouble bf because i am so small.

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BananaPie · 12/06/2011 04:05

I worried about this too - I was a 34A. Went up to 34D and have had no problems breastfeeding.

airborne · 12/06/2011 08:41

I'm a 34a and I had no problems breastfeeding, fed for 10 months. However, I only had enough milk for my baby at that time IYSWIM, I tried expressing using various machines and pumps but never produced much extra, but always had enough for my baby when put to the breast. My breast size hardly increased, I maybe went up to a B cup. I don't think milk production bears any relevance to breast size, I think its just how you are made.

GwendolineMaryLacey · 12/06/2011 08:43

MWs and bf counsellors told me that dd couldn't bf because mine were too big. Seems you can't win either way.

NervousAboutTheParty · 12/06/2011 09:33

I have tiny boobs and I bf for 18 months, my boobs were massive during that time and I produced a lot of milk. My mother has tiny boobs too and she had no problems either.

plantsitter · 12/06/2011 09:38

I have enormous boobs and found breastfeeding v difficult at first. I've never been able to do it discreetly either - they are just too unwieldy.

I have always been envious of people with nice compact boobs who can serenely latch a baby on without having to whop their boob out onto the table first!

mousymouse · 12/06/2011 09:43

only if the boobs are nearly non-existing, i.e. no glands inside should it have an effect. very rare though. (there was a case on embarassing bodies once)
I started out as an a, up to d, fed ds for 8m, back to b. just weaned dd and have been a c most of the time. will see how small they will end up this time.

LawrieMarlow · 12/06/2011 09:43

I have small breasts and bf fine. My mum has v small breasts (about 32AA I think) and bf my sister and me for about 9 months (me) and 12 months (my sister).

Isthreetoomany · 12/06/2011 09:53

I have small boobs but didn't have any problems with breasfeeding either.

beachavendrea · 12/06/2011 09:55

i have average boobs that went massive when my ds was born and i think i was suffocating the poor guy most of the time, i would have much preferred to be smaller. my best friend has very small almost non-existent a cups and she is breastfeeding her little guy very nicely.

I don't think it really matters, boobs make milk, easy peasy

aethelfleda · 12/06/2011 10:28

It won't make any difference- the size of boobs is how many fatty cells you have in that area plus a pretty standard amount of gland tissue. When you're pg, the. Glands "warm up" but it's giving birth that really makes the milk get going. My lovely S-i-l had aa cup boobs but bf'd all three of hers just fine. Mine are a d cup usually, and go to an F (!!!) when I'm Bfing. The thing about really big ones is baby can find it trickier to latch on and get a good mouthful if they are engorged (which for any big boobed ladies, dont panic, there are ways around that).

Either way if you do have a problem when you get there, try the NCT breastfeeding advisor for your area- free access for all mums whether you are an NCT member or not- ring 0300 330 0771 and a local counsellor will ring you back fairly quickly.

Original poster

Spuddybean · 12/06/2011 12:26

Thanks everyone - i wonder why all the women on my paternal side couldn't then? Could it be genetically rubbish boobs?

Anyway, as i said cheers i feel better now.

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Ineedacleaneriamalazyslattern · 12/06/2011 12:31

When I had dd I was an A cup and produced enough milk for the whole neighbourhood and was able to pump loads. DS1 I was a B cup and was exactly the same DS2 I was (and still am) a C cup and managed to bf him no problem and he thrived on it but I was rubbish at expressin this time.
I have been left a cup size larger after each baby as well

GreenTeapot · 12/06/2011 12:31

Very sadly, most of the people who are/were told that they "can't" BF could probably have fed perfectly well with the correct advice. Just as recently as the 80s some women were still being told to feed on a 4 hourly schedule for example, which isn't nearly frequent enough for most women/babies, and led to their supply dwindling. Then they were of course told that they didn't have enough milk. Which would not have been the case if they'd demand-fed their babies.

Try not to dell on this - other people's experiences really aren't good indicators of how you will get on :)

tunnocksteacake · 12/06/2011 12:55

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster

Spuddybean · 12/06/2011 13:14

GreenTeapot - Thank you but now i'm scared; are you supposed to feed more frequently than every 4 hours!?! How do you sleep or doing anything else!?!

Sorry if i seem woefully ill prepared (as i'm really starting to feel now) but at 34 i thought i was quite well informed. :(

OP posts:

GooGooGadget · 12/06/2011 13:18

You feed them all the time at first. It's not forever and you have to remember that. You are best just babymooning in bed with them the first little bit.

My DD didn't go 4 hours until about 4-5 months.

GreenTeapot · 12/06/2011 13:18

Spuddy, you are supposed to feed when the baby's hungry - that can be every 4 hours or maybe every 30 minutes sometimes!

It's only for a very short period of time that they need fed that frequently in the scheme of things so no need to panic. We've all survived

But seriously, with BFing knowledge is power so get yourself along to a baby cafe or a LLL group or something, and hang around on the feeding board here, and you will be welcomed and educated :)

Original poster

Spuddybean · 12/06/2011 13:25

Great advice thank you everyone. I'm sorry if i posted in the wrong place - i didn't know there was a 'feeding board'.

We have ttc once this this month during my fertile time (sadly DP works away a lot) and i am due on my period tomo but no pains yet so fingers crossed. If not we have booked a week away in a secluded cottage for my next fertile week and i have told DP we aren't leaving till i'm up the duff!

Thank you again - i am scared and excited all in one go!

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FreakoidOrganisoid · 12/06/2011 13:26

I also worried about it a lot, and even mix fed dd because I didn't believe my a cups could produce enough for her.

Then when preganant with ds I was told to think of your cup size as an actual cup-so the bigger the size the more it can hold at a time. But the cup keeps refilling so even if you have a small cup you can still produce just as much, it just needs refilling more often. No idea if that's actually true but having that in my mind helped and I bf ds for 20 months.

Original poster

Spuddybean · 12/06/2011 13:28

oh and just wanted to say babymooning is one of the loveliest words i've heard GooGoo.
I've not heard it before and it nearly made me cry - oh how embarrassing!!

OP posts:

inthesticks · 12/06/2011 13:36

Flat chested here. I couldn't find nursing bras small enough for me and in spite of that I had no trouble whatsoever BFing , reckon I could easily have fed twins.
In spite of what anyone says though, it's a full time job for a few months. Mine never went longer than 2 hours between feeds. That's 12 feeds a day for about six months, less after they start solid food.
I'd do it again in a flash though.

Poppet45 · 12/06/2011 13:39

Oooooh good luck TTC Spuddybean! As for the boob size question, no matter how ample you are, most women have the same number of milk ducts and they're what's important for feeding, it's just larger ladies have more padding too.
I was a weenie size before I had DS and definitely second what others have said about a smaller boob actually being much, much easier for a little one to feed from, as well as being less unwieldy and therefore more discreet for feedings out and about too.
As for your family not being able to feed their wee ones, in days gone by, mums were kept in hospital for up to 2 weeks after giving birth, away from their babies, and their babies were only brought to them every four hours. There's no way most women would be able to build a decent supply under those conditions. Wee ones are born with tums the size of a marble so when first born they like to feed little - so not for too long - and very often. But this soon passes and when you BF you make sleepy hormones that help you to fall asleep as soon as you've done a night feed so it really isn't as bad as it might sound. Plus tiny wee ones sleep such a lot during the day you'll have chance to cat nap when they do. Good luck!

Original poster

Spuddybean · 12/06/2011 13:45

Right, now at risk of making myself sound like i have the worst boobs in humanity - one of my nipples are inverted (god i'm a sexy beast!). Does that make any difference when bf?

OP posts:

Mumswang · 12/06/2011 13:59

Re: the frequency of feeding the BF counsellor I saw said To draw a line, representing a 12 Hr day, now mark on that each time you gave a cup of tea/ coffee, a glass of water, a snack, a meal. It's not often that you go 4 hours without any of these things. Why should a tiny baby be able to? It helped me realised wanting a drink or somthing to eat every couple of hours isnt entirely unreasonable.

And like other big breasted ladies have said having huge ones is not without it's problems, getting a mouthful of my football like boob wad hard for DS and always a two handed job

If you get the right help and support it's likely you will be fine

FreakoidOrganisoid · 12/06/2011 14:11

I had one flat and one inverted, sometimes pumped a bit first to draw it out, or used shields. was only really a problem in the early days when engorged and it didn't stay inverted for long

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