The female anatomy of a breast it is incredibly complex. Filled with fatty deposits, sensitive nerves, connective tissues and milk-producing glandular tissue, there are many packed tightly together in one place.
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If you are pregnant or breastfeeding (breastfeeding)any type of previous breast surgery can have a direct impact on how much breast milk you can produce, how much can be stored in your breasts, and whether it flows easily through the mammary ducts (milk) before leaving your nipple.
Pediatrician and specialist in breastfeeding medicine Heidi Szugye, DO, IBCLCexplains some of the complications that can arise from breast surgery, along with ways to increase and make the most of your milk supply.
Breastfeeding with implants/post augmentation
When you have breast augmentation surgery change the appearance of your breasts with the help of implants or fat transfer. Often, breast lift it can be done in conjunction with implants to better position parts of your breasts or lift them higher on your chest.
“The location, type, and size of the implant can all be factors in how much milk production will be affected,” says Dr. Szugye. “But we know that breast augmentation itself can cause vascular and nerve damage, and that can also affect supply.”
All breast operations are done in such a way as to try to reduce the effect they may have lactation. But especially with breast augmentation, it’s important to note that you can’t actually increase the amount of glandular tissue responsible for milk production—if anything, you may lose some of that tissue as part of the procedure or rely on I have always had your web.
“If you have more tube-shaped breasts or very large breasts, this may be a sign that you were born with less of this milk-producing glandular tissue,” explains Dr. Szugye. “Breast augmentation changes the appearance of your breasts, but does not increase the amount of tissue that was there to begin with.”
You can breastfeed after breast augmentation and breastfeeding with implants is safe. But keep in mind that the further away from surgery you start breastfeeding, the better the chances of an adequate milk supply.
Additionally, a baby can sometimes have more difficulty latching on to a very large breast, so it can be helpful to get support from a lactation specialist or lactation consultant before delivery.
Breastfeeding after breast reduction
Breast reduction is different from breast augmentation, as the main goal is to reduce the size of your breast by removing fat, skin and other tissues. You can breastfeed after breast reduction, but the procedure involves a greater chance of affecting your ability to produce breast milk due to the removal of significant tissue.
“Milk supply is less affected if the nipple and teat remain attached to the breast during the procedure,” notes Dr. Szugye.
On average, you have about nine milk ducts per nipple, and cutting just one can have long-term effects on milk production.
“The tissue can be there and the milk can be made, but that pathway from the milk sacs to the nipple can sometimes be cut off,” explains Dr. Szugye. “If milk is being produced but it’s having trouble coming out, that can unfortunately cause some engorgement and swelling until the body recognizes that the milk isn’t going anywhere.”
The process of ridding your body of this unused milk can take a few weeks, so Dr. Szugye often recommends using ibuprofen (a drug that is safe to take while breastfeeding) and cold compresses to reduce inflammation.
Alternatively, if you’ve had a breast reduction and find it difficult to produce enough milk while breastfeeding, you can supplement feeds with donor breast milk or use formula. In fact, there are many ways to allow your baby to get breast milk, and any amount of breast milk is beneficial.
We recommend seeing a lactation specialist during pregnancy to help you maximize your breast milk supply before delivery and get the support you need.
Other breast surgery or procedures that may affect breastfeeding
Surgery for breast cancer involves the removal of small tumors (lumpectomy) and in some cases whole breasts (mastectomy). Both surgeries can lead to the removal of the milk ducts and glandular tissues that produce breast milk.
Radiotherapy and chemotherapy it can also be used before or after surgery or even as a surrogate for surgery, but this can also have a long-term impact on whether or not you can produce milk that is safe to drink.
“If a breastfeeding parent doesn’t need chemotherapy and just needs surgery, then we’ll often try to preserve the breastfeeding experience as much as possible,” says Dr. Szugye. “We’ve had nursing parents who nursed from one breast if radiation or chemotherapy wasn’t required.”
If radiation is required, this breast will unfortunately not produce milk in the future. Most chemotherapy regimens do not allow continued breastfeeding because of the harmful effects on your baby and the risk of serious mastitis (breast inflammation) while you are immunocompromised.
If you’ve had cancer treatments or are in the process of being treated, your healthcare team can discuss your options with you and help you find the support you need.
What can you do to increase your milk supply?
The key to building a good milk supply is to remove as much milk as possible from your breasts during the first two to three weeks after giving birth.
“It’s really a matter of supply and demand,” says Dr. Szugye. “If you stimulate and empty your breasts often early on, we’re going to recruit all those cells that are there to make milk.”
Early on, this means you want to put your baby to your breast every two to three hours every day. Expressing breast milk by hand after feeding can also help increase milk supply in the long term.
“It’s very important to set yourself up for success early on,” encourages Dr. Szugye. “An important thing to keep in mind is that breastfeeding doesn’t have to be all or nothing. We can still help breastfeeding parents achieve their breastfeeding goals by maximizing their breast milk or having that experience at the breast.”
The breastfeeding experience is different for everyone. In general, you want to try and maximize the amount of breast milk you can provide through bottle feeding or directly from your breast, and then rely on supplementing breast milk with FDA-approved formula as needed.
Breastfeeding parents may also appreciate skin-to-skin time with their baby, even if your baby doesn’t get most of his nutrition from breastfeeding, because it provides a number of other benefits.
“Successful breastfeeding does not always mean producing a full milk supply,” notes Dr. Szugye. “Your baby’s breast feeding can be satisfactory, even with the use of a supplemental feeding device.”
What you need to know about supplements
You can feed your baby milk or formula if needed. Supplemental breastfeeding systems use tube feeding to supplement milk from the breast. The system consists of a container that has supplementary liquid. A tube runs from the container to the nipple, allowing your baby to suckle from your nipple and the tube at the same time.
However you choose to supplement your breast milk supply, it’s always a good idea to meet with your pediatrician or a lactation specialist to talk about the surgeries you’ve had, any complications or challenges you’re facing, and alternative breastfeeding methods that interest you. . Doing so can lead to even better solutions down the road — and may even point to other issues or conditions affecting your milk supply.
“You may have had breast surgery in the past, but if you also have conditions such as thyroid dysfunction the polycystic ovary syndrome or other factors that may be affecting your bid, we want to make sure that those are not also complicating the low bid issue,” states Dr. Szugye.
“It’s always a good idea to see a lactation specialist if you’ve had surgery because we can help mitigate any of the potential variables that may decrease your supply.”
