Breast Lift and Breastfeeding
- Is breastfeeding after a breast lift still possible
- Should you wait for a breast lift after you are done having children or under what circumstances can you get one before
Pregnancy is wonderful, but what is not wonderful is how pregnancy changes your breast. The combination of swelling with pregnancy and the engorgement with milk production after pregnancy, stretches out the skin externally and the supportive ligaments internally. Once this occurs, no amount of exercise or non surgical treatments will reverse these changes. This sagging and deflated appearance can only be reversed by rebuilding the breast with a breast lift surgery.
Your ability to breastfeed after breast lift surgery will depend on how the surgery affects two structures in your breast: the milk producing ducts and the microscopic nerves that stimulate those ducts to produce milk. As the surgery will definitely change the anatomy of your breast, including these milk producing ducts and the microscopic nerves, you will most likely not be able to produce milk normally. But, it is important to note that some of the newer techniques in breast lift surgery do better preserve your natural breast anatomy. In these cases, you may be able to partially maintain your ability to make breast milk. It is important that you have this discussion with your surgeon and find out if some of the newer techniques can be used.
It is also recommended that you consider waiting to have breast lift surgery until after all your pregnancies. This will avoid any concerns about your ability to breastfeed and it will also not change the results of your breast lift surgery. Remember, the swelling and engorgement of your breast during and after pregnancy will also change the appearance of your breast after a breast lift surgery. So it is best to play it safe and save the breast lift surgery until after you are done having children.