Pregnancy along with the happiness of giving birth to a child also brings in ample number of changes in a woman. She undergoes both physical and emotional changes that appear no less than a transformation.
Among the major physical changes, one prominent chance that concerns a woman is the change in breasts. From pre-pregnancy to post-pregnancy, breasts undergo changes in regards to their appearance. This happens because the milk glands present in the breast gets activated, which make the breasts appear heavier.
However, many women worry if the same would get smaller in size once they wean their babies. Well, the answer is a Yes. Your breasts under all possibilities go back to your pre-pregnancy size. But then this too depends on your body structure. If you haven’t put on much of weight than the size would get smaller and if you have gained a lot of weight, your breasts are sure to turn larger than before.
Breast Changes Post Breastfeeding
As said, changes in your breasts during weaning totally depend on your body type. Their firmness too will depend on how your body shape and structure happens to be. Many women tend to develop saggy breasts post weaning which certainly causes distress.
If you too are worried about the same, let us here tell you some ways by which you can avoid saggy breasts.
How to avoid saggy breasts during weaning?
Before you begin nursing, you must prepare your breasts for the impending stress and strain of nursing. And this could only be attained with a proper diet that will result in strong and elastic skin. You must consume a low-fat diet that should not include butter, cream, and animal fats. Instead, you must include vegetable oils, low cholesterol spreads, and other processed foods.
The reason behind this is that each cell of your skin and body possesses a cell membrane that should be composed of at least 50% saturated fat. When all cell membranes will be composed of desired amount of saturated fat, your skin will be stronger, resilient, and highly elastic. Saturated fats also help in avoiding stretch marks that appear on the breasts.
Ideal Weaning Age to Reduce Saggy Breasts
Other than diet, your approach to wean your child also impacts the sagginess of your breasts. The modern day approach calls for the mother initiating the weaning process and doing it once the child is introduced to solid foods.
If you wean around 4-6 month, you will be at higher risk of developing saggy breasts as this is the prominent time when baby has high demands for breast milk. If you stop at this point, it can lead to inordinately saggy breasts with much surplus skin.
A better way would be to do it as steadily as possible, preferably around 2-4 years of age. When weaning takes place gradually, baby’s demand for breast milk also goes down as his hunger for solid food makes an increase. This gives your body the needed time to slowly contract and reabsorb breast tissue and skin which had stretched and expanded to house large quantities of breast milk.
This is quite like losing weight at a rapid pace post a gastric bypass surgery opposed to losing weight more steadily with changes in diet and exercise. As stated, in the first scenario, the body will be left with sagging skin while in the second; fat tissues would be burned off and skin would regain its elasticity.
By paying careful attention to your diet all through your pregnancy phase (inclusive of pre and post pregnancy) and adopting a gradual weaning process, you can ensure that your breasts stand more firm and better shaped.