Breastfeeding effects on your breasts

[sabby1]

Hi ladies, I have what feels like a super selfish question, but I'm wondering is there a difference between breasts that have breastfed a baby vs ones that have been through a pregnancy and didn't breastfeed?

I am a FTM and I have decided to go down the breastfeeding route (if I'm able) however I feel a bit scared having seen many like meme type things on pregnancy pages going on about how saggy and awful your breasts go after breastfeeding.

I am just scared that I am going to lose my breasts (which aren't anything fantastic to begin with) but I've been feeling super low about the way I look lately and am struggling with throwing saggy breasts into the mix aswell.

Is this the case with any breasts that have been through a pregnancy or does breastfeeding make them a lot worse?

I feel bad even asking this but I'm genuinely curious. I plan to breastfeed my baby either way I'm just kinda want to know what to expect and I feel I can't ask the doc cos it's so embarrassing and self absorbed of me. I'd like to hear some first hand experience ❤️

I breastfed three children over a period of more than six years, am now 50 and my breasts look absolutely fabulous 🙂
As per comments above, they didn't change a great deal in pregnancy although became temporarily mahoosive just after birth...Breast feeding is one of the loveliest things that I have ever done, BTW.

I’m currently breastfeeding and my breasts look pretty much the same as they ever did, but I’m only 11 weeks in so might change.

It’s worth considering that breastfeeding lowers your risk of developing breast cancer in the future, so it’s good for the health of your boobs!

Same as the consensus here. Extended breastfeeding over nearly 5 years. Now, early 40s, breasts exactly the same. If anything, improved! Sisters both bottle fed, both have sagging and emptiness/floppy breasts now.

I bf for 3.5 years and def have lost some volume compared to before pregnancy. However I am also older and have lost a little weight so it might have happened anyway. I much prefer the smaller size as I like how slim my top half is.

Well my boobs haven't changed shape that much but i do have much bigger nipples. MUCH BIGGER. My husband still has both his eyes though and no complaints

Anyway, i have many battles with my body image so i always try to think about the incredible things my body has done, not just baby related, although it is mind-blowing to think it grew another brain, but also each bit of my body has done amazing things, like help me swim in the sea, walk to beautiful places, taste amazing food.

In short, pregnancy will change your body, having a baby will change your brain but there is no way of knowing what the alternative was going to be. Celebrate yourself and your achievements.

I think it depends what your boobs are like before
I've always had massive boobs which I hated!
So now they are smaller (after breastfeeding two kids for nearly 5 years)
I'm happy with them
In a bra they look much more in proportion to my size
They are slowly filling out abit which I actually don't want to happen
I'd be happy with teeny tiny boobs

I can't go bra less, they are abit saggy
But I think they would have gone that way anyway because they were so big

And I have many friends who didn't breastfeed and their boobs have changed so I do it's think pregnancy aswell!

Worth it though!

My baby only fed from one side for 12 month ish. Can't see or feel any difference.
In fact I'm keen for baby 2 ass I live the way my boobs look when bfing!

I've breastfed two babies for over a year each.

With my son my back size went up loads but came down again.

With my daughter my cup size went up.

I stopped feeding about 6 months ago now and my boobs are just like they were before.

Entirely depends on genetics really.
Pregnancy is the one that causes problems, not breastfeeding. Hormones cause the muscles and ligaments to relax, sometimes they don't quite back to what they were.

I have mahoosive ones at the moment thanks to bf 🙄
I'm usually a GG. At the moment I'm about a K but I went up to L.

I have stretch marks on them but they're pretty good at the moment, thanks to the milk.

When I lose the weight, they'll be a bit flatter. But with a bra they look fine.

I must admit I do feel pretty self conscious about my breasts but I think I always have. But you learn to love the new bits after pregnancy. I've got a fair few stretch marks but they've faded and I've grown to love them as a symbol of my motherhood.

Pregnancy and weight gain affected mine, not breastfeeding. If anything, I think breastfeeding have helped get my breasts back to being how they were before (5 years of breastfeeding in total).

Big breasts and I breastfed for over four years. Obviously I don't know what they'd have looked like if I'd not breastfed but I don't see any significant change to what they were like before children. If anything my nipples are more defined and erect (all that sucking?) which looks sexier than big flat nipples.

The crucial thing I think is to keep them supported in a bra / crop top which I've always done; due to their size it's more comfortable that way.

A proper fitting bra is the most important thing, pregnancy and the wrong size or an ill fitting bra will have far more impact on your breasts than breastfeeding will.

I breastfed my first for a handful of days and my second for a year and a half, I will admit I was a bit concerned before I stopped BF about the impact on my breasts and even asked a friend if they would go back to "normal" she reassured me that they would, and they did.

I only breastfed for 8 months and mine are almost the same as before, but they have 'relaxed' slightly. They do sit a little lower, but in a bra you can't actually tell and I actually like their new relaxed look! I figure they were going to sit lower with age anyway. It probably would have happened with or without breastfeeding. It's ok not to breastfeed if you don't want to, no matter what the reason

From what I read when i was breast feeding, and this was four/five years ago now. If you breast feed and then taper down slowly you’ll be more likely to see no change than if you breast feed and stop abruptly.

I honestly have no idea if this is true. My own personal experience is I breast fed for one year with my first, and two years with my second and my breasts are no different aside from the effects of ageing.

Actually my nipples are different! Before being pregnant they were flat and even inverted, now they are like torpedos.

My boobs are slightly bigger since breastfeeding.

Less perky, but I'm also older!

I bf my 3 DC for over 7 years between them. Boobs were fine when I finished. Bigger than the 34b pre DC1 but still a nice enough shape, even now I am mid 50s and have recently lost 1.5 stone so a bit too skinny now.

I have a private theory that perhaps this is due to a slow and gradual stopping of breastfeeding, feeding less and less over a period of months. Whereas I wonder if, say, perhaps stopping suddenly when your baby is 3 months old might have a more drastic effect on your boobs as they go from full to empty in a short space of time. Just a theory - no science behind it but I have always wondered why some people say bf ruined their breasts when it didn't happen to me.

I fed my first baby until he was 4 and my second is 2.5 and still going, although winding down. Can't tell if he'll wean before my next baby is born in 6 months. Possibly.

I'm just as flat chested as I was pre pregnancy, in fact probably a bit more, was gutted as pregnancy and breastfeeding gave me boobs, but alas they returned to normal... I breastfed for eight months

I fed 3 babies each for at least a year, pregnancies very close together. Boobs got massive each time (I am normally very slim, small boobs and they went to a G cup). They are almost exactly the same now, up a size from before maybe but pretty much no difference, don’t need to wear a bra and no noticeable sagging. I did cut down on feeding slowly so maybe that had an impact but overall I think it’s mainly luck/genetics as PPs have said.

I've BF for 14 months and haven't noticed any change. I'm really lucky mine didn't change much before or after pregnancy either.

I breastfed both my DC and have noticed no difference whatsoever in my boobs pre and post-children. Clearly whilst breastfeeding they changed in shape dramatically but now my youngest is 2, they're back to the same B-cup they were before and no more saggy.

My boobs pretty much tripled in size first pregnancy. I then breasted for a year. Shortly after stopping breastfeeding they were completely back to normal. This pregnancy they're now bigger than they were before but I'm confident they'll be fine again after breastfeeding.

I breastfed two babies to 14 months, ebf for 6 months each. Can't say I've noticed any difference now (2 years after stopping). But then I don't think I took much notice of what they were like before!