Can I Breastfeed After Breast Reduction Surgery ?
If you want to do it you may find that you are totally able to: after all some women breastfeed twins and even triplets without supplementing, and some women only use one breast to feed their babies because of problems. There are several examples of twins and one sided feeding on the breastfeeding support board.
Also a regular member of ivillage who may or may not make herself known to you, thought with her last child that she would be unable to BF as she had had surgery, but after a few days her milk came in - her son was already bottlefed by then, but she is going to give BF a try this time!
Just a thought - as I say, if you ARE interested in giving it a go, then contact your local support networks ahead of time to see what help, advice and support they may be able to offer you - they love a challenge!!
Breastfeeding Network 0870 900 8787
NCT BF supporter line 0870 444 8708
Le Leche League 0845 120 2918
Assoc of BF Mothers 020 7813 1481
One of these will have a local group or volunteer who can help, I'm sure.
"The two issues are a) the amount of breast tissue removed b) how many of the milk ducts are still connected and open.
You can still lose quite a bit of breast tissue with no effect. Since you would be able to produce enough milk for feeding twins in normal circumstances, you should be able to feed a singleton with half the tissue. There is no foolproof way of kniowing whether the ducts are still functioning; leaking some colustrum in late pregnancy would be a good sign, but the opposite does not mean that you will face problems, many mothers never leak and feed successfully.
"The most important thing is to give your breasts the best opportunities once the baby is here. Feed him as soon as you can, and get all the help that you can re positioning. It is more important than ever that you have the maximum area of areola that you can in contact with the baby's jaw. Keep asking for help in hospital, and try and find your nearest Bf counsellor now so that you know where to get help afterwards. If things are slow to get going, don't rush to supplement with formula until you are really sure that you have no choice, try expressing to see if that helps, and also try and avoid early bottles because that may complicate the issue further. If baby needs extra, try and give it by syringe or cup at first.
"Remember that even in normal circumstances, newborn bfed babies have tiny feeds at first. The average newborn feed on day 1 is 7ml (a teaspoonful) so you don't need to produce gallons. Even if you discover that you can't produce enough to fully bf your baby, you are likely to produce some, and even a small amount will be rich in antibodies, so is worth giving."
Just to add to this - I had no probs feeding my son and I never leaked at all in pregnancy. My milk didn't come in till day 4 either, so don't worry, or supplement too soon.
Here's a link that will answer some Qs
http://www.kellymom.com/bf/concerns/mom/breast-surgery.html