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Pregnancy

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

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Original poster

Routine breast examination during pregnancy ?

28 replies

Toppy · 04/08/2009 09:57

I am 34 weeks with #2 and am booked in at at different hospital to the one I had DS 1 in. This time round I am having midwife led care throughout whereas last time I only saw the GP throughout.
The difference in care is incredible and has left me reflecting a lot on first time round. Something I can;t stop mulling over is the 'routine' breast examination the male GP gave me at 34 weeks first time round. It has not cropped up this time nor have any of my friends (mostly midwife led but one GP led) been subject to this.
Whilst I am not remotely shy about such matters it did feel a bit intrusive - perhaps because I was more self conscious of my changing body but I wondered has anyone else had a breast examination during pregnancy. I believe he said it was to determine if there might be any difficulties with breast feeding.

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ruddynorah · 04/08/2009 09:58

oh dear. no need for it as far as i'm aware.

Peabody · 04/08/2009 10:02

I never had one with either pregnancy. However, I wish I had. It might have flagged up the fact that I wouldn't actually be able to breastfeed, and would have saved me two months of heartache trying.

FromGirders · 04/08/2009 10:02

Sorry, not ever heard of anyone needing that. And it wouldn't show up any probs with bfing.

Peabody · 04/08/2009 10:04

Well, apparently the fact that my breasts did not increase in size at all during pregnancy was a warning sign...

FromGirders · 04/08/2009 10:05

Ok, it would show up if you had abnormally insufficient glandular tissue.

FromGirders · 04/08/2009 10:06

Sorry Peabody, was answering OP. Sorry you had problems.

arolf · 04/08/2009 10:15

I had a breast examination at my first appointment in the USA - it's standard over there. Not sure it needed to be quite as rigorous as it was, but never mind

FlyingDuck · 04/08/2009 10:21

Although at 22 weeks I haven't had one, whilst I was TTC I asked my GP (female and pregnant at the time herself) whether at the age of 30 a breast check-up might be a good idea. She said it wouldn't be necessary, but that they would be checked in pregnancy anyway. However, anecdotally it seems it isn't routinely done, so maybe she was just saying that to get me out of the surgery (appointment time was overunning...) However, I think it's fairly standard in some other countries.

theyoungvisiter · 04/08/2009 10:23

I've not had this in either pg.

Can they really tell your ability to bf based on a breast exam?!

Dophus · 04/08/2009 10:25

Never had it or heard of it

terramum · 04/08/2009 10:28

Breasts do mature during your first pregnancy so can see why an exam might be done during then but not at subsequent pregnancies...but have no idea if it's common practice to do them at all tbh?

Havr you tried searching the NICE site or asking your current mws?

olivo · 04/08/2009 10:31

mine were checked at my booking appt - well, the one i had with my gp at about 10 weeks. just a quick glance, more than a check.

peabody, interesting to me as mine havent grown during this pg, i'm now 36 weeks. i wonder if that means i'll have problems with bf? they did grow last time and i didnt have probs.

orangehead · 04/08/2009 10:35

The only time I had one was a few minutes after my 12 week scan which showed my baby had died the week before. I was too much in shock from the scan to think about it. I have since had 2 more mcs and 2 healthy pregs but have never had a breast exam with any of them. I posted on here a while asking if anyone had a breast exam when they mc and it seemed unneccessary.

funtimewincies · 04/08/2009 11:01

No actual need but my consultant flagged it up when I was pg with ds. She asked whether I was continuing to check my boobs each month and when I admited that I wasn't (mainly because they felt so different from one month to another) she said that it was still important, especially as the pg hormones which encourage cell growth can cause some cancers to progress more rapidly (or something like that).

She offered to do a breast examination as I hadn't done one for several months and I agreed. No fuss, she was very quick and dh and a nurse were also in the room.

I wouldn't have thought that there was anything funny about it, although if you were alone your doctor was taking a silly risk .

lal123 · 04/08/2009 13:44

It hought that routine breast examination wasn't recommended anymore - instead we're meant to look for changes in our breasts? Makes me wonder what the point was of a random Dr examining your breasts is? How would they know what is normal for your breasts?

Original poster

Toppy · 04/08/2009 20:09

Thank you all for your replies.
Hmmmm - I always felt a bit funny about it. It did not feel right at the time and with a lot of medic friends I know that UBEs (unnecessary breast examinations) are not uncommon !
Think I will switch to the female GP for the last two visits just in case

OP posts:

FabBakerGirlIsBack · 04/08/2009 20:10

Did you have a chaparone?

Original poster

Toppy · 04/08/2009 20:13

Nope - just me.

OP posts:

FabBakerGirlIsBack · 04/08/2009 20:14

doesn't sound good tbh

i would look at reporting this

mears · 04/08/2009 20:14

Breast examination used to be routine many years ago when I started my training. It is no longer. What age bracket is the GP?

Original poster

Toppy · 04/08/2009 20:18

I would say he is about 44.

OP posts:

mears · 04/08/2009 20:20

Could be then that this was what was done when he did his maternity rotation which could have been 20 years ago. Breast examinations were routine then.

mears · 04/08/2009 20:21

Have you told the midwife about it? One of the reasons that GP s should not be undertaking maternity care unless updated.

Original poster

Toppy · 04/08/2009 20:25

I am seeing MWs on Thursday and will mention it. Thanks for advice

OP posts:

Longtalljosie · 04/08/2009 20:56

Toppy - given that Mears has said it used to be routine, please don't feel too uncomfortable about it. Yes, it looks like it was probably un-necessary, but if it used to be the done thing, probably wasn't anything more sinister than that...

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