How do the breasts change during pregnancy and lactation?
Sydney breast lift
Nearly all mothers would say that their children were worth everything that they had to go through in order to have them. Still, it can’t be denied that pregnancy and breastfeeding bring changes to a woman’s body, and these changes aren’t always desirable. Many of A/Prof. Marucci’s patients are women who aren’t happy with the changes that childbearing brought to their bodies.
What happens to the body during pregnancy and breastfeeding? What permanent changes can result? What can a woman do to reclaim her body after she’s finished having kids?
Breast changes during pregnancy
During a pregnancy, the hormones oestrogen and progesterone bring on a few changes to the breast. The main one is a significant increase in the amount of glandular tissue. This includes the glands that produce breast milk, as well as the ducts that carry it to the nipple. All female breasts contain some amount of glandular tissue, but it stays in a compact state most of the time. When the high hormonal levels of pregnancy stimulate it to grow and develop, the breast grows significantly larger. There is usually also an increase in the amount of fat tissue in the breast, which further increases breast size.
As the tissues of the breast grow, the skin and connective tissue overlying the breast must also stretch and grow to accommodate this. Stretch marks may appear on the breast due to the rapid changes in size.
Breast changes during lactation
Not all women are able to breastfeed their babies, and those who can don’t always choose to. However, for women who choose to breastfeed, the breasts will generally stay at the larger size that they attained during pregnancy, and will sometimes feel very swollen with breast milk.
Many women worry that breastfeeding will cause breast sagging or additional stretch marks on the breasts. They may be relieved to hear that scientific research indicates that this isn’t the case. It’s actually pregnancy itself that causes breast sagging – not breastfeeding. Studies have shown that women who breastfeed their babies don’t show any increase in breast sagging compared to women who have a baby but don’t breastfeed. Pregnancy certainly causes cosmetic changes in the breast, but breastfeeding doesn’t seem to make these worse.
Are the changes in the breast permanent?
After pregnancy and breastfeeding are completed, the breast will no longer experience the growth stimulus caused by the hormones pregnancy and/or a breastfeeding infant. As a result, the glandular tissue of the breast will shrink back to its previous compact size.
However, the skin and connective tissues of the breast generally do not shrink back down to the same degree. As a result, the breast may have a “deflated” appearance. The Cooper’s ligaments, which support the breast internally, are also stretched by the growth of the breast and don’t shrink back down. This leads to breast sagging, as the breast no longer has the same degree of support that it used to.
Changes in the amount of fat tissue in the breast are less predictable. Some women have less fat tissue in the breast after the experience of pregnancy (and breastfeeding) than they did before, while other women have more. Even for those who have extra fat tissue afterwards, however, the breast often still appears smaller afterwards than it did before the pregnancy. This is because the biggest factor in how big a breast looks is actually not its volume, but rather its projection, or how far it sticks out from the body. A breast that is sagging and laying closer to the body will look smaller. Because of this, even if a woman has an increase in breast volume after she has her kids, her breasts may still appear smaller than they used to.
Can the breast be restored? – Sydney breast lift
After pregnancy and breastfeeding are completed, it takes a few months for the breasts to readjust and settle into their new size and shape. It’s impossible to know what the overall result will be until this period is completed. However, if a woman is not satisfied with how her breasts look after this period is over, then there’s no nonsurgical method that will be able to address this problem. Creams, exercises, and supplements are not effective at changing breast size or shape.
However, plastic surgery does offer a solution. A breast lift is a surgical procedure that lifts and shapes the breast tissue. This can restore the breast to its prepregnancy shape. For some women, a breast lift is all that is needed, because they’re satisfied with their breast volume. For those who would also like an increase in breast size, a breast augmentation can be performed along with the breast lift. This can help women who have also lost overall breast volume as a result of the pregnancy and breastfeeding process, or those who liked the larger size of their breasts during pregnancy.
In order to learn more about your options and get personalised advice from a professional, we invite you to book a consultation with A/Prof Marucci. As an Associate Professor at the University of Sydney, he’s very well-versed in a variety of modern techniques for breast lift and breast augmentation. After an exam and a discussion of your goals for your breast appearance, he will be able to advise you on what he recommends and what results you could likely expect from each of your options. Simply contact our front desk to book your appointment.
