Have breast augmentation done before or after your pregnancy?
At the MOOI clinic, we see many young women considering breast augmentation. At what stage of your life is it best to have breast augmentation? Is it better to wait until after pregnancy? These are questions we discuss during a consultation.
What does pregnancy do to your breasts?
Pregnancy changes your body. Your belly doubles, you get a full head of hair as well as fuller breasts. The latter is a nice touch for many women. Already during pregnancy, your body is preparing for breastfeeding. Your nipples change and mammary glands grow. As a result, during and right after pregnancy, your breasts can easily be a cup size larger than normal.
Your breasts after pregnancy and breastfeeding
About three to four days after you bring your beautiful baby into the world, you will notice that your breasts feel even fuller and firmer. Your milk production comes on even when you are not breastfeeding at all. As the milk accumulates, your breasts may feel sore and tense. Your breasts are probably at their largest right now.
When you don’t breastfeed, or stop doing so, the mammary glands shrink again. Due to the rapid growth of your breasts during pregnancy, stretch marks are also more common on the breasts. Once the mammary glands shrink (and you’ve also lost your pregnancy pounds), the skin gets a little saggy, which can cause your breasts to droop. You may also have lost fatty tissue in your breast, making your breasts smaller than before.
Whether your breasts remain larger, equal or smaller after pregnancy varies from woman to woman. Most, unfortunately, are unlucky and “come out” with less firm breasts.
By the way, your breasts do not sag more or extra by breastfeeding or not. The big hormonal change during and after your pregnancy, is the big culprit of so-called teabags.
Breast augmentation before or after pregnancy?
For each patient, the advice may be different. If you are in your 20s and have barely any breast formation and no desire to have children for now, we will probably discuss that breast augmentation is certainly possible. However, if you are around 30 and thinking of starting children in the foreseeable future, we will probably advise you to put it off until after pregnancy.
When asked, “Would I have breast augmentation done before or after pregnancy?” Don’t have a standard answer that applies to everyone. It is different for each individual woman. If you are considering breast augmentation, we will discuss it in detail during the initial consultation. However, there are certain considerations you can take into your decision.
Breast augmentation for pregnancy
If you have almost no breast tissue or are very insecure about the size of your breasts, you can enjoy breast augmentation before pregnancy for years to come. After breast augmentation, the skin near your breasts feels tight. If you don’t get pregnant in the first few years after breast augmentation, the skin will have a little more time to grow with you. Your breasts then look natural. Should you unexpectedly become pregnant right after your breast augmentation, it is certainly not dangerous or a real problem. Also, breastfeeding after breast augmentation is simply possible in 99% of cases.
If you become pregnant after breast augmentation, you should be aware that your breasts will still change after pregnancy. The result of breast augmentation changes because your skin is saggier after pregnancy and possibly your own glandular tissue decreases. So you might need another correction (or elevator) after your pregnancies to make sure you are happy with the results again. By the way, this is also true if you fluctuate a lot in your weight, then your breasts may also change. However, some women actually like their breasts even more after their pregnancies because their breasts have started to droop a little more and look more natural.
Doing breast augmentation after pregnancy
If you want to get pregnant in the short term, it is better to have breast augmentation after your pregnancies. The plastic surgeon can better work toward the desired result. Some women also do not get the desire to enlarge their breasts at all until after their pregnancy. For example, because their breasts are now much smaller and droopy.
After pregnancy, your body must first be fully recovered and hormonally stable. Therefore, the advice is to wait at least 6 to 9 months before surgery, from the time of giving birth and/or stopping breastfeeding.
It is important to know that after breast augmentation you should take it easy for at least 6 weeks and not lift (heavily). So you cannot lift your baby or children! With young children in the house, breast augmentation is only possible if you get a lot of help from your partner, family or friends. You obviously don’t have this concern when you undergo breast augmentation without children.
We hope this has given you sufficient information. If you have any questions, we would love to hear from you.
