Implants and Breastfeeding

This is a rather silly question, well two in fact and they are completely unrelated.

I was wondering if taking certain birth control pills and other contraceptives delay the onset of menopause because they prevent ovulation.  I realize I could have that completely wrong but that is why I am asking.

Also can women with breast implants breastfeed, I have just always been curious.

Today, the second question!

You have to be careful when you look up information about cosmetic surgery.  A lot of FAQ pages that pop up when you search for side effects are propaganda published by cosmetic surgeon lobbies.  Plastic surgery is incredibly profitable for the people who preform it, and it is in their best interest to convince you to get it, so it's best to search for reputable sources of information beyond the surgery practices themselves. 

The short answer to the question "Can women with breast implants breastfeed" is yes -- maybe.  It is going to depend a lot on the woman, the breast, and the surgery.

If you look for answers on surgeon pages, you'll find that they strongly emphasize the "YES!" part of this answer.  If some women can breastfeed successfully with implants, then technically the answer to the question is yes, women can feed after augmentation, but that isn't all women, and a lot of sites neglect to mention that.  I even found one page that suggested that breast implants might actually make your breastfeeding experience more easy and pleasurable than it would otherwise have been.  As a woman who is currently breastfeeding, I call nonsense on that.  There's no way that having a foreign body in my already engorged, tender breasts would ever make this process easier.  There's no way that my breasts being any bigger would make me more comfortable. 

The truth is, some women will have no trouble breastfeeding after implants, but plenty of others will experience a number of side effects that make breastfeeding painful, difficult, or even impossible. 

Nerve damage -- When a baby latches on to a breast, he stimulates the nipple sending signals through the nerves setting off a series of hormonal responses: oxytocin to let the milk down and prolactin to produce more milk.  Nerve damage to the nipples is relatively common in breast augmentation.  It isn't just a matter of decreased sensitivity, it is a matter of suppressing these signals and blocking the body's ability to respond to the baby's needs and produce and deliver milk on demand.  Sometimes, injury to the nerves in the nipple can render a breast unable to feed a baby. Nerve injury can be minimized by choosing an armpit incision instead of an areola incision, so if you want implants, talk to your doctor about the type of incision and its impact on nerve damage.

Duct damage -- Some women who get implants end up with injury to their milk ducts.  This can decrease the amount of milk-producing tissue and mean that a woman has to supplement with formula or pump a great deal during the first few weeks to get her milk supply up enough to feed her baby.  Obviously no surgeon intends to injure your ducts, but the damage can happen anyway from incision, loss of blood supply to the tissue, or even the formation of scar tissue.

Increased severity of side effects -- Even if everything goes smashingly, nerves are intact, milk production is good, a woman is totally physically capable of feeding her baby after her augmentation, she may suffer increased severity of difficulty due to the presence of the implants.  I can tell you first-hand that problems like engorgement can happen even without implants, but I did find accounts that women with implants tend to get more pain and more severe engorgement for longer, sometimes even so severe that it causes fever.  It is extremely difficult to deal with this level of discomfort day in and day out, and many women who get this kind of pain decide that breastfeeding is not for them.  Who could blame them?  It's rough!  I'm nursing through my pain and getting help from my doctors, but if I were constantly feverish, I would probably switch to formula too.

Aesthetic concerns -- Let's face it; pregnancy and lactation change the way a woman's breasts look.  Implants are by no means a permanent change anyway.  They require replacement, on average, every ten years or so.  A woman with implants might be surprised how much her breasts change when she has a child (whether or not she chooses to breastfeed), and may be disappointed with the look of her breasts after her childbearing. 

My advice?  If you know that you want to breastfeed your children, make that your priority and do not consider surgery until after you are done nursing your babies.  Even if you don't want to nurse your children, consider that pregnancy itself will affect your breasts, make them tender and sore, make them bigger than they have ever been before, then leave them a bit deflated.  Take this all into consideration when you weigh whether or not to seek augmentation.  Know that your breasts didn't evolve as sexual organs or fashion accessories; they evolved to feed your children.  If you want them to play that role in your life, don't risk it with cosmetic surgery. 

If your breasts are a source of serious discomfort to you (back pain, for instance), then by all means, do what you have to do to live well!  Talk to your surgeon thoroughly about what you can do to minimize the risks of impact to your future breastfeeding.  If you don't want to nurse or have kids, do what you want to do!  But I wouldn't trust anyone who tells you that breast surgery poses zero risk to breastfeeding.  It's too invasive for such an easy answer.