Can I breast feed if I have had a breast reduction surgery?
10 years ago I had a breast reduction surgery. I am very short and needed it done to because I was having severe back pain. I am now thinking about having children and learned that I may not be able to breast feed because of the surgery. Is there any way to know if I will be able to? Also, is there anything I can do to increase the possibility that I will be able to?
Hi – breast reduction and uplift usually means that the nipples are cut away from their old position and re-positioned higher up on the tightened breast. This invariably means damage to milk ducts.
I know someone who had it done and she could produce some milk, but it was clearly not enough.
There is nothing that can increase the possibility of breast feeding if your ducts have been severed or compromised.
Personally I would not even torment myself about this; I would look forward to bottle-feeding my baby on a quality formula milk (and there are SO many around nowadays) and keeping us both sane and happy.
Good luck.
No way to increase the chances, and the only way to find out is to start lactating.
I am not sure how different surgery was back then, but I’m about to get mine done and was told I’d only have a 30% chance of breast feeding by the end of it, and I’m having one of the least evasive techniques used.