Can I breastfeed after breast augmentation?
Breastfeeding after breast augmentation is absolutely safe and possible. The implants are normally placed under the breast tissue which means they should not damage any breast ducts. Silicone is biologically safe and has not been shown to be harmful for your baby.
Dr Beldholm discussed how breast augmentation can affect breast feeding
In this video, Dr. Bernard Beldholm discusses common questions on breastfeeding after having breast implants. Breastfeeding after having implants is certainly possible. It’s a common concern for women so in this video, Many women often ask:
“What happens when I do have a baby and I have to breastfeed” or “What happens to my shape/size after breastfeeding?”
Dr Beldholm answers these questions in detail in this video.
To provide you with even more detail on the latest research on this topic Dr Beldholm has also included a review of the latest research available on this topic with links to research articles.
Transcript of video with Dr Beldholm discussing breastfeeding and breast implants
A lot of women that come to me have had babies already and have breastfed and are not going to have any more. However, a substantial amount come before they’re pregnant and before they’re breastfeeding. A lot of them have a concern about what happens when I do have a baby and I do breastfeed. There’s also other questions about what happens to my shape, size after breastfeeding.
The implant, silicon itself is biologically inert. It will not damage your baby and it doesn’t damage the breast ducts when we put it in. We put it either under a muscle or put it above the muscle, but it is not in the breast ducts. We’re not cutting through the breast ducts. We’re not damaging the breast ducts. If you can breastfeed, this shouldn’t be an issue.
Remember that a lot of women can’t breastfeed regardless of if they have implants or not. That’s the key thing to remember as well. If you’re struggling with breastfeeding, it may not have anything to do with implants. Certainly there’s not been shown to be any effect on breastfeeding from implants themselves. Also, even if they were ruptured, there’s never been to be a problem for the baby as such as well.
The other big question I get from women is, “What’s going to happen when I do get pregnant?” There’s a lot of things that happen in pregnancy. Obviously your breasts get bigger. Once you’ve breastfed and and once you’ve stopped breastfeeding, the breasts will come down. You may get some sagginess, you may not. You will always get more fullness up top with your breast implants so I find that a lot of women look better with breast implants after they breastfeed than if they hadn’t had breast implants in the first place. It really is very individual.
If you want to, you come in, have it checked with me. We’ll go through all these issues, go through the sizes and everything you need to know about your breast implant operation.
Latest research into breastfeeding and breast augmentation
When women ask about breastfeeding and breast augmentation there is really 2 implied questions in this:
Are breast implants safe for my baby?
Am I going to be able to breastfeed with implants?
To be able to answer these questions I have reviewed the current medical literature. There is a lot of misinformation on this topic on the internet and it is important that potential mother get the right information.
Are Breast implants safe for my baby?
Breast implants have been around for a long time and there has been a few scandals associated with them. From getting banned in the 1980’s in the USA to the recent PIP scandal. All this things make mother anxious about potential harm that could happen to their babies.
There has been much research on the safety of the implants. “Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on the Safety of Silicone Breast Implants” did an extensive review of the research available on this issue in 1999.
The main conclusion that they came to is that is is safe for the baby and that there is no “plausible” way that the silicon or implants could harm the baby.
Since the 1990’s breast implants have gone through a lot of changes making them even safer than they were at that stage.
Gel bleed is a particular problem with liquid breast implants. The silicon leaks through the shell of the implant. Modern implants contain cohesive silicone gel or “gummy bear” implants. The cohesive gel sticks together and avoids a lot of the issues that liquid silicon had. So modern implants are much safer than the older generation implants.
Summary of the review done by Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on the Safety of Silicone Breast Implants
Effects of silicone breast implants during pregnancy and lactation
Two main issues need to be answered:
Is silicone harmful to the baby?
Do women with implants have silicon in their body and does this silicone reach the baby?
Is silicon harmful to the baby?
There has been no studies to date that show that silicon in any way is harmful to the baby. For obvious reasons there has not been any direct studies with babies. All the human studies have been observational and in all these there is no sign that there is any potential harm to the baby. There has been animal studies to see if silicon is safe for a growing fetus. These studies have not shown any harmful effect.
As far as the latest research goes there is no sign that silicon in any way can harm the baby.
Do women with implants have silicon in their body and does this silicone reach the baby?
The other piece of this puzzle is; if silicon was harmful to the baby does it actually reach the baby in the womb or during breastfeeding.
For the silicone to reach the baby it has to get in the blood first there is studies to show that this does not happen.
So in conclusion there is no risk to your baby from silicone.
Am I going to be able to breastfeed with implants?
We have established that breastfeeding is safe for the baby but do breast implants affect the ability to breastfeed in the first instance?
Breastfeeding is important for a number of reasons. From bonding with your new baby to providing important nutrition and disease fighting substances. It has been shown that women that have implants have a reduced rate of breastfeeding.
There might be many factors why this is the case:
Anxiety about breast implants and safety for the baby
Having small breasts before breast feeding may mean less ability to breastfeed
Pressure on the breast tissue
Potential nerve damage
Potential damage to the ducts.
To be sure that you have the optimum chance of breast feeding you should see a surgeon that specialises in breast augmentation. You also want to see a surgeon that does the rapid recovery technique which minimises damage to the breast tissues.
If you become pregnant than you should make sure that you have a breastfeeding nurse helping you to get the optimum chance to breast feed.
References
Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on the Safety of Silicone Breast Implants. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK44780/; Bondurant S, Ernster V, Herdman R, editors.
Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); 1999.
Schiff M, Algert CS, Ampt A, et al. The impact of cosmetic breast implants on breastfeeding: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Int Breastfeed J 2014; 9: 17. http://www.internationalbreastfeedingjournal.com/content/9/1/17 (accessed Dec 2014).
Reduced breast milk feeding subsequent to cosmetic breast augmentation surgery. Roberts CL; Ampt AJ; Algert CS; Sywak MS; Chen JS. Medical Journal of Australia. 202(6):324-8, 2015 Apr 6. [Comparative Study. Journal Article. Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov’t] UI: 25832160
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