Ah. Breasts. It’s not just men who obsess about them. We do too. It starts in adolescence. “Are they growing fast enough? Will they be big enough to attract a boy? How do they look in clothes?” We love them or we hate them. Sometimes we’re ambivalent towards them. But not usually. My own feelings towards mine weren’t cemented until a boy told me he liked them. “Oh, really? They’re worthy?! Oh joy!”
Then we become mothers. They change. We breastfeed. Sometimes we breastfeed two children at once! A whole new appreciation emerges for these wonderful life-sustaining appendages. Read ahead for some personal stories and a new study that offers relief from an age-old myth.
credit: Ruth Stover
Asha from Momthings and the Snoot in her post Less Breast discusses a myriad of breast issues. From having A- cup breasts her whole life to developing B-cups as a pregnant and nursing mom, to having a constantly engorged right breast, lopsided breasts, her challenges with breastfeeding, and finally her thoughts on what makes a woman a woman.
Excerpt: [A]fter spending my negative-breasted life without cleavage, hardly ever being able to find a dress that wasn’t too wide in the bosom, and literally NEVER wearing a button-up blouse that was not found in the little boys section of Dillards, at least half of my rack is really good at its job.
Julian from Pocket Buddha in BFAR, Breasts and Body Image writes about her up and down feelings around how her breasts changed after she became a breastfeeding mom. Her story is unique because before she became a mom, she had a breast reduction (BFAR).
Excerpt: The many and varied reasons I had for undergoing breast reduction surgery did not simply go away the day I became a mother. The growth in size of my breasts during pregnancy and in breastfeeding is no less uncomfortable and undesirable to me just because they are suddenly functional.
Code Name Mama, Dionna’s view of her breasts and the words she associates with them have changed since she became a mother. Read her post Big B Little b about the names she used to be called and what she thinks about them now.
Do Your Boobs Hang Low, Do They Wobble To and Fro…
A new study entitled Breast Ptosis: Causes and Cure has resulted in new findings regarding sagging breasts and their relation to breastfeeding. And it’s good news for breastfeeding mamas!
The following factors have been found to contribute to sagging breasts:
- age
- history of significant (>50 lbs) weight loss
- higher body mass index
- larger bra cup size
- number of pregnancies
- smoking history
The following factors were found not to contribute to sagging breasts:
- breastfeeding
- lack of upper body exercises
So the next time someone tells you all that breastfeeding is going to cause you to have boobs down to your toes you can tell them to go screw themselves that breastfeeding has nothing to do with breast ptosis. Make sure you use that word “ptosis” too so they know you know what you’re talking about. To read more about this study and what a couple other bloggers think about it, go visit PhD in Parenting: Sagging Breasts? What’s To Blame? and Chronicles of a Nursing Mom: Saggy Boobs and Nursing.
How have your breasts changed during pregnancy and nursing? How do you feel about them?
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Today at Maman A Droit: She is talking about The Usefulness of Underarm Flab. Did you know there are uses for these bits of flesh? Go see! She’s asking for some photo submissions for a fun Wordless Wednesday exercise too!
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Related posts:
- Monday Musings: Aligning Your Body Image with Self Image
- Body Image Carnival Post Round Up
- Announcing The Body Image Carnival (April 12-18)
- Hey Facebook! Change Your Policies! Breastfeeding is Not Obscene!
- Monday Musings: How Strict Are You About What You Put In Your Body When Breastfeeding?
Tags: BFAR, breast ptosis, breastfeeding after reduction, sagging breasts
The way mine have changed (grown) means I can no longer buy bras in stores and from most retailers I can’t even find my size online! Apparently women with small ribcages aren’t supposed to have large cup sizes. Someone please inform my breasts!!!
What a great collection of posts! Thank you for including mine – I’m honored to be among these writers
Off to read!
.-= Dionna´s last blog ..How We Came to Unschooling =-.
looking forward to reading all these posts!! and as for my breasts…I actually love my breastfeeding knockers. lol. I can finally fill out a dress!! I remember being really disappointed when my son stopped nursing because they went back down to being nothing.
.-= Alexandra´s last blog ..Extra Curves =-.
As someone who has had breast ptosis since I was a skinny 13 year old whose breasts had just grown in (and at a B cup, nonetheless), I could have told anyone that nursing has nothing to do with it, lol.
Breastfeeding was one of the first times I didn’t hate my breasts. I didn’t care about the fact that my husband loves them or that two people before that thought they were great, they weren’t and I could never stand them. Now they have a purpose and are fuller than before. I still want surgery to fix them, but I won’t do anything to harm their function until I’m ready to retire them
Maman A Droit, I am SO with you. Even nursing bra companies, which you’d think would expect women to go up in cup size, often don’t allow for small rib cage + large cup. I think it’s partly because most women buy the wrong size anyway, and manufacturers just follow the trend. Or did they set it? Not sure!
My breasts were big before breastfeeding and are officially huge now, but I really get a kick out of it. I love how full and rounded they are, and I know it won’t last, so I’m enjoying it while I can!
.-= Lauren @ HoboMama´s last blog ..Intact: A circumcision journey =-.
Glad I found your blog! I failed breastfeeding with my first one (because I was one of those naive women who hoped it will be natural and as easy as it looked… ) Doing more homework before the second one gets here in a few more months, keeping my fingers crossed I can do it this time around.
.-= mrs.notouching´s last blog ..How to Raise a PhD =-.
My breasts pre-pregnancy and nursing were very perky B cups. During pregnancy they grew to a perky C. Once the milk came in they were Ds. Now I am still nursing and also pregnant with number 2 and they have gone back down to probably a small C. They are no longer so perky. Not touching my belly button or anything, but they are not what they use to be. So for me, I think all that changing of sizes due to pregnancy and nursing did in fact cause them to start the sag. Not that I would do anything differently!
.-= Katrina´s last blog ..Easter 2010 =-.
[...] How Breastfeeding Can Change Our Body Image [...]
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