Wives tale debunked
Great news, mamas! Breastfeeding does not, in fact, create sagging boobs so tell everyone who tells you otherwise they’re wrong and you’ve got plastic surgeons, the group that most stands to benefit from the myth, to back you up.
A study presented at the American Society of Plastic Surgeons 2007 conference shows that breastfeeding has no effect on the shape of a woman’s breast.
“Many women who come in for breast surgery tell us their breasts are sagging, drooping or are less full because they breastfed,” said Brian Rinker, MD, ASPS Member Surgeon and study author. “Although the amount of sagging in the breasts appears to increase with each pregnancy, we’ve found that breastfeeding does not worsen the effect.”
The study examined 93 women who were pregnant one or more times prior to having cosmetic breast surgery. Fifty-eight percent of patients reported breastfeeding one or more of their children. The duration of breastfeeding ranged from 2 to 25 months, with an average of nine months. Fifty-five percent of respondents reported an adverse change in the shape of their breasts following pregnancy.
As the first study to examine what impacts breast shape in connection to pregnancy, plastic surgeons found that a history of breastfeeding, the number of children breastfed, the duration of each child’s breastfeeding, or the amount of weight gained during pregnancy were not significant predictors for losing breast shape. However, body mass index (BMI), the number of pregnancies, a larger pre-pregnancy bra size, smoking history, and age were significant risk factors for an increased degree of breast sagging.
Interesting that smoking has an effect on the buoyancy of breasts. I can think of no better way to scare vain teenage girls into not smoking than by telling them it will make their boobs saggy. Kids don’t seem to be scared of cancer these days, but sagging is terrifying.
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November 1st, 2007 at 9:27 pm
[...] may not be as firm as I would like, and they may bounce more because of being stretched by breast-feeding seven (yes, seven!) babies- but I am fond of them. I think Dan is too. He makes it pretty clear that [...]