Throughout life, body changes are natural and inevitable. This is especially true during pregnancy and postpartum as your amazing body changes as you grow and deliver your precious baby. For many new moms during the postpartum period, the change of sagging boobs can cause insecurity and feelings of self consciousness. Some common questions you might be asking are, “will breastfeeding my baby cause my breasts to sag? And what can I do to prevent my breasts from sagging during breastfeeding?”
Breastfeeding your baby does not make your boobs sag. Despite the commonly held belief that breastfeeding is to blame for saggy or droopy breasts, the change in the breasts after giving birth is instead due to the ligaments in the breasts stretching as the breasts become heavier during pregnancy.
You may have heard from someone, read online, or experienced first-hand how your breasts change during or after nursing. The idea that saggy breasts (or medically termed “ptosis”) directly result from breastfeeding is a common misconception. If you are interested in learning the truth about whether or not breastfeeding can result in “saggy boobs,” you have come to the right place.
Does Breastfeeding My Baby Make My Boobs Sag?
Contrary to popular belief, breastfeeding a baby does not make the breasts sag in themselves. The common belief held by women that breastfeeding is to blame for saggy breasts is caused by the fact that women often only notice the change in their breasts after breastfeeding. So why then do your boobs sometimes look droopy after you breastfeed?
Many factors can cause breasts to appear saggy, including aging and smoking. Losing or gaining significant amounts of weight can also significantly influence the size of the breast, causing them to sag due to stretched ligaments and skin. The number one reason for sagging breasts is actually pregnancy! And what comes with pregnancy? Gaining and losing weight!
Why Does Breastfeeding Make My Breasts Sag?
During pregnancy, a woman’s breast size naturally increases as the breast tissue and milk-producing glands become bigger and fuller. After birth, breast milk fills the breast, leading to a further stretch of the skin. This is one of the beautiful ways in which a woman’s body prepares itself to nourish an upcoming new life by providing it with nutrients and the necessary antibodies.
While the breasts increase in volume, the connective tissue or ligaments supporting the breast (assisting in lifting your breasts) stretch under the weight. The ligaments and breasts stay stretched out after giving birth. The breast milk also dries up after time, which, together with the stretched ligaments, may leave the breasts looking saggy, even if the mom did not breastfeed.
After pregnancy, if the mom decides to breastfeed, nursing her baby removes milk in the breasts, making the breasts smaller, less full, and therefore appear “droopy.” This phenomenon causes moms to incorrectly blame breastfeeding for the changes in their breasts after having a baby.
What Can I Do To Prevent My Breasts From Sagging?
There is no way to completely prevent sagging breasts. No magic cream, product, or method prevents a new mom’s breast from sagging at all. Still, most researchers agree that the following will minimize the effect of pregnancy and breastfeeding on the appearance of “saggy” or “droopy” breasts:
1. Do Not Smoke/Quit Smoking
Smoking has been found to contribute to saggy skin since it vastly reduces the skin’s elasticity. Smoking has also been shown to negatively affect the skin’s ability to repair itself if damage has been caused. Therefore, getting help from a health professional is recommended to assist you in quitting smoking for you and your baby’s benefit.
2. Do Not Cross the Guidelines for Weight Gain During Pregnancy
There is no set amount of weight an expecting mother should gain. Rather, the guidelines for weight gain are based on the individual’s pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI), which is calculated using the individual’s height and weight.
Some sources suggest staying within these guidelines because of the amount the skin will stretch with different amounts of weight gained. The more weight gained while pregnant or breastfeeding, the more the breasts stretch under the weight. The further the skin is stretched, the more likely the breasts are to appear droopy when your weight returns to normal.
3. Do Not Rush Weight Loss After Pregnancy
It is crucial to not rush weight loss after pregnancy. Although it can be highly tempting, not rushing to get back to your pre-pregnancy body will allow the skin to adjust to all bodily changes. Some sources argue that losing weight controlled and slowly after pregnancy will help minimize the breasts’ sag after pregnancy or nursing.
Excess skin in the breast area after post-pregnancy weight loss could cause the breasts to appear droopy. Slowly and steadily losing weight gives the skin time to shrink effectively while the size of the breasts decrease. Sudden weight loss, in turn, could cause the skin to not shrink as sufficiently, causing the “saggy” look.
4. Exercise Regularly
Whether exercising while pregnant or breastfeeding will help to prevent sagging breasts is controversial amongst researchers. Exercise will not help with re-tightening your breasts’ ligaments, which is necessary to prevent breasts from sagging.
Training should target the pectoral (pecs)muscles in the chest. You can target the pecs with push-ups, triceps dips, and more. According to some sources, exercises may slightly help because they give your breasts a more lifted appearance.
5. Moisturize and Exfoliate Your Breasts
Some researchers have found that moisturizing the chest area with a good hydrating cream will maintain the skin’s firmness. Removing dead cells by exfoliating the breasts improves skin elasticity and circulation. This will reduce the possible saggy appearance of the breasts.
6. Wear a Supportive Nursing Bra
A nursing bra is said to support the ligaments in the breasts as the breasts become heavier. The bra relieves some pressure from the ligaments, causing them to stretch less.
Since stretched ligaments are the primary cause of saggy-looking breasts, a supportive, good-fitting bra is said to be a great preventative measure. This claim has not gone without criticism, and sources actively argue the effectiveness of wearing a bra to prevent one’s breasts from sagging.
7. Wean Your Baby Slowly
When it is time to wean your baby, it is recommended to try and take this process as slowly as possible. Each day, gradually decrease how long and how often you breastfeed. Some researchers claim that gradual weaning will allow time for fat tissue to redeposit in the breasts.
What Can Be Done to Get Rid of Saggy Breasts?
Aesthetic surgeries can be done to help with the insecurity surrounding droopy breasts. Breast reduction surgery can be performed to reduce breast size. Breast lifting surgery can change breast shape, and implants can help to enlarge and lift the breasts.
It is helpful to remind yourself that sagging breasts do not cause any health problems, even though some individuals may attribute breast pain to sagging. Usually, any experience of pain is due to breast size and not due to sagging.
For new moms, sagging breasts are part of life that comes with bringing a new life into the world, making the time of life therefore natural and beautiful. It is understandable that, in an era where celebrities, models, and social media influencers with round and sturdy breasts (whether natural or cosmetic) create beauty standards, sagging breasts may cause insecurity.
The idea of breastfeeding could even be off-putting if you believe breastfeeding causes sagging breasts. The concept of sagging breasts has caused multiple moms to choose to not breastfeed their babies, despite the beauty of the process and the great benefits breastfeeding holds. Therefore, although aesthetic surgeries are available, change is not necessary and your body is a remarkable and beautiful creation.
Conclusion
Many new moms are daunted by the idea that breastfeeding will cause their breasts to sag, but fear not – breastfeeding is great for you and your baby! Sagging breasts are not the result of breastfeeding but rather a cause of pregnancy due to stretched ligaments. Sagging breasts are a beautiful symbolization of the wonder of giving birth to a new life. Well done, mama!