Breastfeeding is an important role for mothers, and for babies as well, but for some moms, nursing poses some issues, including: pain, sensitivity – and over time, sagging breast tissue.
Sagging Breasts Are A Common Complaint Among Moms After Nursing
It’s a well known fact that breast feeding is in the best interest of the mother and child, and it is not just because it is a matter of physiological function, as it also has a part to play in the health of their child. For the first few days of breastfeeding, the mother releases a semi-opaque liquid called the colostrum. This liquid is comprised of a high number of immunoglobulins, large macromolecules that are produced by the mother’s immune system, specifically designed to serve as the baby’s temporary defense mechanism against foreign invaders.These Immunoglobulins coming from the mother are the ones that make sure that neonatal diseases do not harm her child, especially in that sweet-spot when the child is not yet able to produce any antibodies against infection. The only problem is that a lot of mothers do not want to breastfeed their children. Some say it is painful while others say they find it an aesthetic nightmare for their breasts.
A recent study was done and was published in the Aesthetic Surgery Journal which tackled various factors that contributed to the sagging of women’s breasts. The research was done by means of taking photos of around 160 pairs of breasts from twins who were at the Twins Day Festival in Ohio. The pictures were then collated and arranged based on their partner twin, and were sent to plastic surgeons at Case Western Reserve University to be analyzed.
As expected, the leading causes for breast sagging are multiple pregnancies and breastfeeding, followed by breast-sagging due to gravity. Surprisingly though, factors like smoking and alcohol intake also played a part in how much a woman’s breast would sag over the years. These also contributed to another gripe of women who have children—areola size. The study showed that women who have had a far less healthy lifestyle as compared to women who ate a balanced diet and had fewer vices tend to have better-shaped areolas and less droopy breasts.
One of the more startling results came from the fact that a test for skin-quality revealed that women who breast-fed their baby had the better skin quality as opposed to women who did not breastfeed. This might stem from the fact that hormones that make the skin of women look young and radiant are continuously produced during the process of breastfeeding. Women who do not breastfeed aren’t exposed to these hormones for very long, and hence, the lesser skin quality.
General Physicians, Pediatricians, and Plastic Surgeons all agree on one thing—that a woman’s breasts will never go back naturally to the way they were when she didn’t have children yet. Although this might be the case, plastic surgeons recommend a much healthier lifestyle for mothers if they don’t want their breasts sagging earlier than they should. The good thing about this is that the baby is also exposed to a healthy lifestyle, and this is by all means a win-win situation. If mothers really want to have better looking breasts even after breastfeeding, always observe the practice of moisturizing after feeding your baby, so that any stresses placed upon the areola would be relieved.