I was talking with a friend the other day who asserted that breast feeding can, in some cases, make a woman’s breasts permanently larger. I told him I didn’t realize this and that I was under the impression that after a child was weaned that the breast would return to it’s pre-milk engorged state albeit with some possible sagging. Our sample sets of experience with this consist of one each, his current wife (claimed permanently larger) and my ex-wife (returned to normal size).
They can grow and stay bigger (though not as large as they were at the point of greatest engorgement), they can go back to their original size, and they can shrink. Ah, infinite diversity. Mine are back to their original size after three babies, all breastfed, but they are a different shape; go figure. My mom used to have hooters from hell when she was a teenager, and now she’s barely in a B cup. I think it just depends on physiology, really.
depends on 1)how many milk glands in the breast, 2)how big the breast (related to but not dependent on 1), 3)how much engorged, how often engorged, how long engorged (filled with milk, that is), and how long before weaning and drying up of milk takes place, 4)how well supported the breasts, and 5)a bunch of other factors I’m conveniently omitting or forgetting. Someone from La Leche could probably answer this better, but the ultimate answer is: it depends. But it can go either way from complete return to pre-lactation size and shape afterwards, or hanging down to knees forever.
(a lot of my patients breast-feed, and I’ve picked up most of my useful information from them).
Yep, LaMaxwell. Sigh. As I always say, there’s nothing sadder than being an A-cup that sags. I will note that the aerola and nipple became larger after pregnancy and breastfeeding and they’ve been that way ever since.
Yup, it does vary by woman. Mine are larger than before I had a baby, but then again I’ve also gained weight. While they aren’t saggy, they are definately squishier and less perky. How much of that is age and how much of that is baby, I don’t know.
While they aren’t saggy, they are definately squishier and less perky. How much of that is age and how much of that is baby, I don’t know.