Milk production question

[Noodles81]

Hi ladies,

I'm 35+3 and feeling a bit worried/upset about my lack of boob growth.
My boobs have not got any bigger AT ALL, in fact i'm still wearing the same bras pre pregnancy with no probs. The only change i've noticed is that my nipples have got darker, bigger and harder to touch.
A friend of mine is due 3 wks after me and some months ago she couldn't wait to tell me how she had had some leakage already and asked if i had and i was upset to say i hadn't.

I'm just wondering, is this normal or ok? Should i have some changes at least or will it kick in when bubs is born? Is it possible that i won't produce any milk at all or is this not possible?
Have any of you had breast growth after birth instead? And is it possible to have no growth but still produce milk?

I am really keen on breastfeeding and think i will be quite heartbroken if sods law i'm the one who can't produce any milk.

Thanks for your advise.
x

Unlikely you'll have a problem - very few women can't physically produce milk. Breast size has no impact on how much milk you will make.

Some leak like buggery before birth, some can express colostrum from the first trimester and others have not a drop until the placenta detaches and triggers production.

Don't fret about it, see what happens when baby is born. Even if you only produce a tiny, tiny bit of colostrum in the first couple of days then that's actually all your baby will need

Mine are still the same size and I'm EBFing mine. They were huge when my milk came in but only for a day ( wish I'd take a pic actually!)

You'll be fine x

To the great amusement of friends and disappointment of DH my boobs grew hardly at all during pregnancy and I didn't get any leakage whatsoever before birth. Now I have had ds my boobs are a bit bigger but not mahoosive but I'm definitely producing enough milk - too much at times!

Panic not.

Yep absolutly normal, Mine never grew, thank god and i had no leaking at all but DD had more than enough, I EBF for 10 weeks until medical issues put a stop to it (nothing to do with breast, just medication i was on). i am now 28 weeks with DC2, once again no leaking and boobs are the same size, just sore.

In my 1st pregnancy I was the same A cup before, during and after my pregnancy.

Did try to breastfeed my son, he was sucking for hours but don't think much happened there. Only during the first couple of days my breasts were fuller but unfortunately that didn't last for a long time.

Now pregnant 32 weeks and boobies still haven't grown :(

It's just not meant to be...

My boobs got no bigger during my first pregnancy, I was totally gutted because I was an A cup and was looking forward to getting some boobs. Then when he was 4 days old I woke up to these massive things attached to my chest, they were huge! They settled down eventually but stayed at a B cup. When I got pregnant with my 2nd my boobs got massive almost straight away, was a D all through the pregnancy and a DD while I was feedling her, I got pregnant while she was still feeding and she weaned when I was 7 months, they went to a C and they have stayed the same size since, even while feeding no.3 and pregnant/bfing no.4. My 4th pregnancy was the first one where I leaked, the first three I didn't leak at all.

Breast size has nothing to do with how well they work, for the first few days you'll preduce tiny amounts of colostrum, between 3-5 days after the birth your milk will come in and then the supply will settle down within a few weeks so you won't feel full anymore, the quicker they settle down the better so your risk of mastitis etc lowers. As long as you feed baby as often and for as long as they want feeding (which is constant in the first 8 weeks) then you'll make enough milk, it's extremely rare for a woman to not make any/enough milk if she is feeding on demand and there are no latch issues etc. My milk dried up by 3 months with my first... thought it was my boobs that were the problem until I read as much as I could when expecting no.2, top up bottles in the evening were my downfall with my first, and the fact that he wasn't feeding more than once during the night in the early weeks because he was prem and sleepy, I've never had any problems making tons of milk with my last three (had oversupply!).

Thank you so much for the info and advice. I should just remember that every body is different, but you just can't help comparing!

I've learned to stop listening to people's labour stories as well for the same reason, women just love to tell you how awful and long their labour was don't they?!

x

Mine didn't get any bigger. Thank goodness because I was already an F cup.

When my milk came in on day 4 they were mahoosive though! Like porn star boobs! But that didn't last much to the disappointment of DH.

So am i right in thinking that those first few days that you wait for the milk to kick in you're only providing baby colostrum? Is this enough feed?

My boobs didnt grow through my pregnancy and I didnt leak at all was very worried about breastfeeding, then I had ds and it was a dream to breastfeed I hardly leaked just a couple of times at the begining and continued to breastfeed for a year. So dont worry about it at all.

mine didn't grow until my milk came in.
now they're massive (comparatively)

and yes, think of colostrum as really really concentrated milk. it's good stuff. (and it can take up to a week for your milk to come in, so you'll be feeding little and often till thn)

Silly question - does this mean women who have big boobs from the start already have their milk kicked in hence the bigger size and then others get big at the end when theirs kicks in?

noodles81 Yes about the colostrum - the milk doesn't come in until day 3-5 post partum. Babies have tiny tiny stomachs and they feed very frequently so the colostrum gives them everything they need. They don't need bottles with ounces of milk in them :)

However, as NewYearEverything says, the placenta detaching triggers milk production, which starts around 3-5 days after birth (alongside the hormonal crash known as the baby blues!) Those of us who have big boobs anyway don't have them because of anything to do with milk production, we just have more fat and tissue there.

Thank you very much for all the info.

Let's just hope the breastfeeding takes!