Anyone else pregnant/breastfeeding with PIP implants?

[no1childminder]

Hi, I was wondering if anyone else has PIP implants? I am 21wks PG and found out last week that the implants I had in 2004 are the PIP implants!! I was planning on breastfeeding, until I found this out and now Im in turmoil what to do. The person on other end of fone at Harley Street said I can still breastfeed, as did the consultant at the hospital. I would usually trust a 'professionals' advice, but Im worried that as the PIP scandal is stil relatively new they havent had time to really look into the effects of breastfeeding with them. I would be racked with guilt if my child became ill a few years later and there was a link! Im due to see MW soon but Im worried she'll be biased, as she may be able to deliver babies but that doesnt mean she knows about implants!

I just basically want to hear other peoples opinions (with the implants or not) of what they would do.

Just to add breastfeeding to me is a very important thing to do, hence why this is a very difficult decision!

Thanks :)

bump

In your position, I'd weigh the hypothetical risks of the implant with the definite, substantiated and quantifiable health risks to the baby of not feeding him/her breastmilk. I'd want to find out as much as I could, but I would work from a default position of breastfeeding. I think, though, I'd also want my implants scanned just to check they hadn't burst though! I hope that helps ... just one person's opinion.

Hi, I am 34 wks pregnanct and have PIP implants and have just been told I have a ruptured implant. Although I was upset at this news, my surgeon was really reassuring and told me there is no medical proof to suggest PIPs are toxic and my baby should be fine, though he did follow this up by saying I need to have the ruptured implant out immediately after giving birth or if I plan on having them replaced with new implants, 3 months after. I have had no side effects, I didn't even realise there was anything wrong. I had hoped I was just going to have a check up and they would tell me my PIPs were fine. I feel guilty knowing I have this going on whilst pregnant and the thought of having the op whilst the baby is so young and not being able to hold him for a few wks while I recover is also making me feel bad as my partner will have to take tim off work to look after me and the baby and my family will no doubt rally round to help.
I would suggest you ahve a scan to fidn out firstly if there is anything wrong with your implants and whatever happens tell your midwife as the added stress won't help the pregnancy and you never know, she might have some useful advice or have other similiar cases. Good Luck!

Personally I'd keep the industrial silicon in Pip implants as ar away from my perfect inocent baby as I possibly could, play safe for goodness sake you'd never forgive yourself if you find out out in years to come that you'd done some terrible damage. Breast feeding is obviously the best but as you say no one knows the long term prognosis nor just how toxic your milk might be with a ruptured implant. If it wasn't ruptured and leaking it might not be so bad but it is so please play it safe.

Hi there
Very sorry to hear you also have PIP implants. I have them also and thought I would share my breastfeeding experiences with you. I had my implants in 2006 and gave birth to my third child in August 2010. I breastfed my other two children for a year each (before I had PIPS) with no problems at all. When Reo was born I tried to breast feed as soon as he was born and it was agony, I tried over and over again, in fact I sat there for six hours after he was born and fed him constantly but he seemed frustrated. Over the following two weeks I persevered but Reo screamed everytime I tried to feed him and got very frustrated and was literally punching me in the boobs. After lots of tears from my side, my husband told me to stop and ran to tesco's and bought some aptimal... Reo guzzled it down. I felt like such a failure as I have always been extremely pro-breastfeeding. But Reo was much happier and I justified it by buying the best quality powdered milk. I berated myself when he got chicken pox quite severely though.
Since my breastfeeding attempt my implants got into a terrible state, they are totally deformed now. I have just had a confirmed rupture diagnosed on both sides and believe that this occurred when I tried to breast feed. It has leaked into my lymph nodes and I have been unwell for around 18 months. I feel sick with the thought that my attempt at breastfeeding could have harmed my son. We are told it is ok but I am not trusting a medical professional every again. I personally would tell you not to risk it but it is your own decision entirely. As I said, I believe that breast is best, but not when it has mattress filler in it!
Good luck whatever you decide.

thankyou everyone.
boggler mine havent ruptured. well as far as i know. i havent had a scan to check, but i also havent had any symptoms. but then again danilee said she was unaware hers had, so im going to ask my GP if i could have a scan. it really isnt worth the risk, boggler uv basically wrote my own thoughts down! lots of babies are only formula fed and theres nothing wrong with them, so just so i can relax (and not blame myself if, god-forbid, anything happened to my baby boy later in life) im definately going to formula feed, as upset as i am :(
thankyou for your opinions.

thankyou for your story Rinbeans im so sorry to hear what you went/are going through. my fiance said he would prefer it if i didnt breastfeed, but the choice is obviously mine cos its my breasts, but that just makes me feel if it did affect our baby boy i would only have myself to blame :( ive just got to tel myself formula feeding your baby is not wrong, lots of parents do, and a few of my friends just could not breastfeed and i dont think badly of them for not breastfeeding. thankyou.

I have PIP implants and have been breastfeeding my daughter for ten months now. I have been having problems diagnosed as repeated mastitis since she was a week old (11 times!) and have fairly recently found that I probably have a rupture. MRI shows no rupture, but I do have silicone in my lymph nodes.

If you want your implants out, AFAIK you cannot have this done whilst lactating. At least, that is what I have been told and I cannot find a surgeon who will operate on me whilst I am lactating. (which would be my ideal scenario). So if you feel it really is very urgent to get your implant out then you will not be able to BF anyway.

Personally, having done an awful lot of research, I am happy to keep BF my daughter. Silicone cannot get into breastmilk anyway, the molecules are too large and any danger IMO would be based on some of the implants that haven't been tested comtaining something (other than silicone) that wasn't in the implants that were tested. So, there is a small potential risk, but there is also risk to not BF, which is definitely proven.

If it were me personally, then I would aim to BF for 6 months until solids could be introduced and then stop BF and have the surgery, but that is just me, everyone is different and you have to do what is right for you.