3 weeks after breast augmentation

is it possible to breastfeed with implants? given the well-documented benefits of breastfeedingto the long- and short- term health of children, the american academy of pediatrics (aap) recommendsexclusively breastfeeding infants for at least the first six months, and continuing to nurse,along with giving supplemental foods, throughout the first year of life. in fact, if one so chooses, babies can geteverything they need nutritionally from the mother’s milk up until about a year old,at which point their diet must be supplemented with solid foods. however, many women who have had breast implantsfear that they may not be able to breastfeed

their children, assuming that their implantswill impair their ability to nurse, or at least do so effectively; luckily, this ismostly a myth, and, in fact, most women with implants who wish to do so are able to successfullybreastfeed their babies. the primary determinant in whether or nota woman with implants will be able to successfully nurse is not whether the device consists ofsilicone or saline, but where and how it was placed. specifically, according to pediatrician andauthor of great expectations: the essential guide to breastfeeding, dr. marianne neifert,nipple incisions should be avoided, as “all the milk ducts that drain the different lobes. . . convene there;” rather, they recommend

making an inframammary incision (under thebreast crease) or implanting the device under the chest wall muscle to maximize the probabilitythat one would be able to later successfully breastfeed. pressure can also potentially be an issue. essentially, the less pressure an implantputs on the mammary gland, the better. as dr. miriam labbok of the carolina globalbreastfeeding institute notes, “the mammary gland, like any other gland, performs normallywhen it has blood… and space to grow. but when you put pressure on any gland inthe body, you risk it malfunctioning and compromising lactation.”

many women are also concerned that somehowan implant may leak or otherwise contaminate the baby’s milk, but in truth the risksof leakage with modern implants (in the past decade or two) is negligible. moreover, contrary to popular belief, womenwith implants who breastfeed are no more likely to experience post-pregnancy sagging thanthose without. in fact, for both it isn’t the breastfeedingthat causes the droop, it’s the swelling of the breasts caused by the hormones thatenlarged them during pregnancy, and the subsequent reduction in breast size when they are absent. so, in the end, while there is some chancethat getting breast implants will result in

an inability to breastfeed a baby, for thevast majority who choose to have this surgery (nearly a third of a million women in the u.s. per year), they’ll have no (extra) trouble with breastfeeding when the time comes.