It is my understanding that the most damage/stretching is done during the pregnancy. Breastfeeding is the healthiest way of feeding infants! It is the primary purpose of breasts! While it may not work out for every mother and child it should be seriously considered! I wish P'Gell was here to add her 2 cents! Did you know breast feeding is actually good for your breasts? I actually lowers your risk of breast cancer. less

It is my understanding that the most damage/stretching is done during the pregnancy. Breastfeeding is the healthiest way of feeding infants! It is the primary purpose of breasts! While it may not work out for every mother and child it should be seriously considered! I wish P'Gell was here to add her 2 cents! Did you know breast feeding is actually good for your breasts? I actually lowers your risk of breast cancer. less

pumping verses feeding doesn't matter and breast tissue with stretch with age anyway. The pumping is the same action as the child sucking. I breast fed 2 boys for years and it really isn't any different. My son is 21 years old and he has been on antibiotics 3 times in his whole life and my 15 year old also has only been on antibiotics 3 times. I attribute their health to the breastfeeding. And besides formula is expensive as hell!!! The bond that you form with your children from breastfeeding is the best in the world. I miss those days of sitting and nursing my babies!!! less

There is a shot (I believe) that you can get to stop the milk glands from producing, but breasts are made to feed babies. That's why we have them. The experience is amazing, and regardless of your choice you're still going to have to deal with 3am feedings. From my experience, it's much easier to cuddle the baby to your breast in bed (while half asleep), than to get up, make a bottle, and then feed the baby (and have to get back to sleep yourself!)

Remember that those old wives tales about breastfeeding dragging you down started long before they had bras! And consequently, before they had nursing bras. This might be tmi, but I'm a DD, breast fed 2 kids, and I'm still not pointing at my toes. I'm also not pointing at the ceiling, but come on, they're like fleshy grapefruits attached to my chest wall... I don't remember them ever pointing up lol. less

As a breastfeeding advisor for my local health authority I am almost duty bound to tell you to breastfeed! But I am not a member of the "breastapo", in the end it is your personal choice.
Your boobs will become larger as your endocrine system prepares you for motherhood, if you did not breastfeed you would quickly stop producing milk and your boobs will return to something close to their original shape.
But think less about what your body looks like and consider what breastfeeding will give your infant. Your baby has a blueprint when born, breastfeeding is part of that blueprint, the instinct to suckle is unbelievably powerful because your baby's needs are met by being at the breast. Your antibodies are passed on to your baby when you breastfeed, antibodies that could well be a life saver. Your baby's digestive tract is geared up for breast milk, formula will not harm your baby, but it will never provide all the nutritional requirements, formula does not (and never will be able to) contain colostrum. Breastmilk comes in two parts, the colostrum is contained in the "foremilk", the second portion of your milk then provides the quenching element your baby needs.
I have breastfed both my sons, look at my photo in my avatar, I'm 55 and my breasts are still as perky and firm as they were before I became pregnant! In fact I used to be a 32AA I am now a 36B.
If your reasons for choosing not to breastfeed are based on what you fear it will do to your body, you will never know just how beautiful it can feel to have your infant at your breasts. If your reasons are down to an inability to breastfeed, then so be it, formula will be a good substitute.
But if you have any problems or doubts, speak to a doula or midwife (do you have the NCT in your country?), Just please give a good try before giving in.
Lecture over! less

I'm a nurse and a Board Certified Lactation Consultant. I tell no lies. I know about breastfeeding.

Breastfeeding is an amazing thing to do for your child and for yourself and for your entire family and the community.

I would seriously doubt the wisdom (?) of a man who thinks "perky boobs" are more important than a healthier child, a child with a higher IQ, a better immune system, a system of feeding that decreases YOUR risk of breast, uterine, ovarian and other cancers, decreases the risk of SIDS in your baby, reduces the risk of at least 20 cancers in your child even into adulthood!

Also breastfeeding does NOT cause "sagging boobs!" PREGNANCY causes the breakdown of elastic tissue in the breast, NOT breastfeeding. Sagging is also genetic, so many women who have never been pregnant and/or have never breastfed will get sagging boobs, while many women who nurse all of their kids for 3 years will stay fairly firm!

I have 3 kids, all breastfed, I'm.... over 35 years old... do these look all that saggy? (Those are mine, now!)

I have about 8 years of breastfeeding under my belt. My youngest nursed for 4 years, my middle one about 2+ and my oldest about a year and a half. I still have fairly firm breasts, yeah, they are farther south than they were when I was 19, but they would be if I had no children, or had damaged them by letting them get overengorged by not nursing. In fact, you actually do MORE damage to your breasts by NOT nursing after a pregnancy, than if you just give the baby what he or she needs and nurse the baby!

(Yes, some women can't breastfeed, but the vast majority of women can and do. More than 95% of the people on this planet were breastfed. Lets just assume most of their fathers weren't uninformed and selfish as this boy/man who doesn't want his child to have THE BEST seems to be.) In fact the actual percentage of women who physically can't breastfeed is about 1% of 1% of the population, or about one in 1000 to one in 2000 women. Chances are you CAN, and if you can, you definitely should. It isn't a decision like "What nursery theme should we have?" or "Should we do a belly cast or not?" It is a decision that can have lifelong impact on YOU and your child.

Get the book, The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding and MAKE your boyfriend read it, or read it to him, every word! This is one of the most brutally HONEST books in all baby rearing literature. Also, get a copy of The Baby Book by Sears and Sears and read the chapters on Infant Feeding to this boy. If he still doesn't want you to breastfeed, I'd rethink his real maturity and where his priorities are. WHO wouldn't want their child breastfed? I don't get it. My Man wanted the healthiest, happiest baby with the most optimal infancy available. Yes, they'd still be happy if they aren't breastfed, but it's SO much better, immune wise, bonding wise, GI development wise, intellectual development wise, that if you are one of the 1,999 women out of 2,000 who CAN breastfeed WHY would you not do it?

Also, please visit these websites

La Leche League

Kelly Mom Breastfeeding

Dr. Sears and family child rearing website

Good luck. Good men WANT what is BEST for their children. Not only is your BF WRONG about breastfeeding causing sagging because it doesn't, even if it did, he would sacrifice the BEST thing for a baby, so he could play with perky titties for a few more years?


Wow. less

I need opinions from mothers who have breastfed and mothers who have chosen not to breastfeed. My boyfriend says he hopes I never breastfeed because I will lose my perky boobs. My problem with this is that I am under the impression that you still have to pump the milk out at some point, and that is equally problematic.
What do you think?

P.S. I would prefer breastfeeding because it is the healthy, natural way, but I'm willing to do otherwise if I see fit later on. less

I have 2 children. I tried breast feeding, but it did not go as planned, so I formula fed. Even with not breastfeeding I lost a full cup size. My children are older now, and the breast change has been permanent. Neither my husband nor myself are bothered by the smaller size, by I'm sure some woman and their significant others would be. No matter what you decide to do, your breasts are going to change. Some women gain size and some women lose size. less

I'm a nurse and a Board Certified Lactation Consultant. I tell no lies. I know about breastfeeding.

Breastfeeding is an amazing thing to do for your child and for yourself and for your entire family and the community.

I would seriously doubt the wisdom (?) of a man who thinks "perky boobs" are more important than a healthier child, a child with a higher IQ, a better immune system, a system of feeding that decreases YOUR risk of breast, uterine, ovarian and other cancers, decreases the risk of SIDS in your baby, reduces the risk of at least 20 cancers in your child even into adulthood!

Also breastfeeding does NOT cause "sagging boobs!" PREGNANCY causes the breakdown of elastic tissue in the breast, NOT breastfeeding. Sagging is also genetic, so many women who have never been pregnant and/or have never breastfed will get sagging boobs, while many women who nurse all of their kids for 3 years will stay fairly firm!

I have 3 kids, all breastfed, I'm.... over 35 years old... do these look all that saggy? (Those are mine, now!)

I have about 8 years of breastfeeding under my belt. My youngest nursed for 4 years, my middle one about 2+ and my oldest about a year and a half. I still have fairly firm breasts, yeah, they are farther south than they were when I was 19, but they would be if I had no children, or had damaged them by letting them get overengorged by not nursing. In fact, you actually do MORE damage to your breasts by NOT nursing after a pregnancy, than if you just give the baby what he or she needs and nurse the baby!

(Yes, some women can't breastfeed, but the vast majority of women can and do. More than 95% of the people on this planet were breastfed. Lets just assume most of their fathers weren't uninformed and selfish as this boy/man who doesn't want his child to have THE BEST seems to be.) In fact the actual percentage of women who physically can't breastfeed is about 1% of 1% of the population, or about one in 1000 to one in 2000 women. Chances are you CAN, and if you can, you definitely should. It isn't a decision like "What nursery theme should we have?" or "Should we do a belly cast or not?" It is a decision that can have lifelong impact on YOU and your child.

Get the book, The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding and MAKE your boyfriend read it, or read it to him, every word! This is one of the most brutally HONEST books in all baby rearing literature. Also, get a copy of The Baby Book by Sears and Sears and read the chapters on Infant Feeding to this boy. If he still doesn't want you to breastfeed, I'd rethink his real maturity and where his priorities are. WHO wouldn't want their child breastfed? I don't get it. My Man wanted the healthiest, happiest baby with the most optimal infancy available. Yes, they'd still be happy if they aren't breastfed, but it's SO much better, immune wise, bonding wise, GI development wise, intellectual development wise, that if you are one of the 1,999 women out of 2,000 who CAN breastfeed WHY would you not do it?

Also, please visit these websites

La Leche League

Kelly Mom Breastfeeding

Dr. Sears and family child rearing website

Good luck. Good men WANT what is BEST for their children. Not only is your BF WRONG about breastfeeding causing sagging because it doesn't, even if it did, he would sacrifice the BEST thing for a baby, so he could play with perky titties for a few more years?


Wow. less