Hi,

My name is Jennifer and I need some feedback. I am 30, 5'5" and 200lbs with a 40DDD. I am at my biggest weight now because the last 3 years I have been recovering from 3 herniated and 3 bulging discs (bottom 6 in the spine) and have done very little activity. It has been a long and rough process.

I have been for the last 15 years contemplating a reduction because of the neck pain, back pain and shoulder pain I have. I was a C-cup by 11 and a 38DDD by 15. I have no children, but I am married, and we are wanting them. I am not so concerned with bottle verse breast feeding but what I want feedback on is how people's breast "recovered" after having children. I would like to know how scars handled it, how the lift was after and those sort of things. Basically I want to know if I am going to destroy the reduction if I do get pregnant after having a reduction? Here in Norway they won't do it if you are considering kids because the excuse they give is "It will stretch out the scars horribly and the lift is ruined in almost 100% of cases." I don't believe that but I would like to hear it from some of you.

Some people think that I am stupid for not caring whether I breastfeed or not. I know no child has been all that ill-effected by not being breastfeed. If I can I will, if I can't, I won't but I want to have a better functioning body to beable to physically care for children. I just can't stand the headaches and the pain in my back anymore. Seriously it is enough to drive a person crazy. The funny thing is, being as over weight as I am now, my breast size hasn't changed and it doesn't when I lose weight either. I am not even sure that I can have children because I had tried for 3 years with my previous partner and it never happened. I also have some other issues that are sort of family genetics that tie in. But I digress.

So there is my story. I figured, because all you women on here are moms and have had reductions, you would be the best people to ask about all this. I appreciate any light you can shed on the subject and questions I have asked.

Thank you a million times over.

You say you don't care about breast feeding versus bottle feeding. You may change your mind once you actually hold your child for the first time.

But as to your question, I was a DDD/F in high school and grew to a K with my first pregnancy. I had my reduction after that child weaned, which brought me down to a large C/small D. I have had two more pregnancies since then, and my breasts have grown back to a G. Most women will shrink back to somewhere near their pre-pregnancy size after weaning, so I hope when my current nurselings wean I'll be back to a D.

Pregnancy will cause your breasts to grow whether you have had a reduction or not. I have a lot of sagging because of this growth, so yes I would say it ruined the lift. My scars don't really look any worse, though. I don't have any regrets either about having the surgery when I did or about having more children and "ruining the results."

Hi Jennifer, Welcome!
I know how uncomfortable is having big breast but I also know the importance of BF and that recovery takes time.
For me after my BR I was really happy but I needed to take care of the scars and weight gain for more than a year as far as I remember. Last December when my DD was born I even regret the surgery since I didn`t know that BF was so important and that I wanted so badly. Maybe it is because when you can`t have something you want it more.
My personal advice is try to lose some weight that also affect the chances of getting pregnant and try to consider having a baby before the surgery since if you do the surgery probably will need to wait at least 1 or 2 years. By the way the breast and nipples got strange sesations after surgery so maybe that can happen even more while pregnant.
Even if you decide to have the surgery you can BF with some milk using an at breast supplemental system or if you are fine with it you can use a bottle.
I also read that the healing process of a breast surgery takes time. Maybe you could read the book defining your own success from Diane West.
Good luck!

There are 3 women in my family who have had breast reductions, we were all overweight to some degree. I definitely concur that losing some weight, not necessarily all of it, will make you feel better and make the surgery more successful and more likely to give you a good looking result.

In my case, I had a pregnancy loss after my reduction, and I did not find any significant change in my breasts size or scar appearance after I recovered from that pregnancy (+6 months). I am currently BFARing and loving it.

My sister was not able to breastfeed because she had very large breasts and the baby could not extract the milk, so she pumped for 3 weeks then switched to formula. She had a reduction afterward.

Thanks everyone. It is just a rock and a hard place. We don't really have much success in my family with breast feeding anyways. It is a combo of large breast, flat nipples and such. Neither of my aunts or nor any of my 3 cousins were able to breast feed (neither of my sisters can have children biologically). My mother could only breast feed with her right breast as her left never was able to produce any flow. So I think it isn't so much that I don't care whether I can or not it is more like I have come to grips with the idea that more then likely I won't be able too. Of course there is always the possibility. I guess I prefer to look at worst case and be surprised if it goes the other way. It may seem weird to compare myself with my cousins but they are the closest I have to compare with. If you put us in a line where all you could see were our breasts you'd have a hard time telling who was who.

I am currently losing weight now that I have been cleared to actually go to the gym and such. I was on such a restricted lifestyle after I herniated my discs it has been horrible. I was about 150 lbs before this whole thing started 3 years ago. I just figured it would be nice to be smaller breasted while trying to have kids because it would make it easier on me.

It is hard when you really don't have anyone to talk to about this. My cousins are all thin (dispite the large breasts) and surgery phobic so they would never consider this. I really appreciate the points of veiw. Honestly it is hard being in a country full of thin, normal breasted women who don't get it. Norway is really a wonderful place to live and I love living here but sometimes it is hard to be the "odd" one physically.

Hi Jennifer! Ugh, that must be so hard to feel so physically different from most of the people around you. My experience is somewhat similar to others. I didn't care about breastfeeding when I had the reduction, and then when I had children I was so sad that the reduction made bf'ing difficult. I really had no idea how important it would be to me and if I could do it over again, would definitely have waited to have a reduction until after babies.
However, my size was not causing the same type of health problems as you. Yes I had back pain but not herniated discs, etc.
I am still nursing my 2nd child but my breasts have not increased back up to their pre-reduction size, not even during pregnancy. This might be related also to the fact that I am not as heavy overall now as I was when I was in my late teens/early 20's, when I had the reduction.
Can you set yourself a timeline, a goal, like to give yourself 9 months to get your weight down and see if that helps with breast size, and only after that consider surgery?
I hear you about the family history of difficult breastfeeding, but maybe you'd be the exception! Also, when the time comes and you do have babies, no matter what you should refer back to this website for support, b/c there are lots of different ways to increase supply and keep the baby at the breast even without a full milk supply and with nipple issues, etc.

Hi there,

I had a BR 18 months before having my first child. I had been considering it for 10 years. I did not have enough breast milk for either of my 2 children, and had to supplement, but (thanks to help from this forum) I have kept my children nursing for 16 months and 25+ months. My scars have not changed in any way during pregnancy/breastfeeding, apart from very slight darkening in colour during pregnancy which went away. The scars certainly did not stretch. I am still breastfeeding my second child and my breasts are about a D cup, they are not as lifted as they were immediately post surgery but they are still much higher than pre-surgery.

I didnt think breastfeeding would be important to me - but boy was I wrong. Even with all the emotional difficulties of trying to breastfeed, I am happy I had the reduction done. Because now, they are smaller and manageable for the rest of my life. I cant imagine having the surgery done now, for one, we couldnt afford it, and secondly, I wouldnt undergo the risks of surgery now I have children. So I am glad I did it when I could.

It is a really hard decision, and I wish you all the best.