Hi Ladies,

I've been on and off this board for probably about a year now and have been seriously considering BE. Right now I am in my 6th month of pregnancy so of course I'm unable to persue this endeavour until AFTER I have the child and AFTER breastfeeding. But is there anything I can do during pregnancy or during breast feeding that would better enable to me grow larger breasts after the fact?? I hope this makes sense. I read over on the BE Board about "Grow Yours" (i think it was called) and it was mainly geared towards massage, so my question is during breast feeing would it be beneficial or not to start a massage program or would that hinder the eventual growth or milk production?

Hi Mommatobe,

I think you will just have to wait until after you are through with this process before starting anything useful to NBE.

I would say that massage is possibly helpful and of course keeping the skin of the breast hydrated so you will reduce stretch marks.

For now and until you stop breast feeding you will have large breasts. Be sure to wear proper support to reduce the tendency for sagging.

Some women use herbs to increase milk flow during breast feeding. These same herbs are used in NBE. After you have given birth you could try some of these and just keep on them after you have weaned the baby.

I am very happy for you. Is this your first child?

By the way- in answer to another post you made. If you don't log in your posts will be delayed in showing. Eve has to look over the non-logged in posts first and depending on her schedule it can take a while. If you log in your posts will hit the forum immediately.

Best wishes,
waxingmoon

You don't really want to attempt to grow during nursing but massage can be very beneficial just for the nursing. It has to be the right massage though. You have to be gentle enough not to make the milk ducts collapse and get clogged. A gentle massage, however, can help your milk ducts to drain properly, preventing them from getting clogged or backed up. I had that problem with my second child. My doctor recommended massage and showed me how to do it to help the milk ducts drain.

Yes, there are herbs that help increase milk production that are also used during BE. If you don't need them, I don't recommend them though. From my experience, the herbs definitely increased my milk supply but the quality of my milk wasn't as good (It was still healthy for the baby, but it was thinner, less cream/fat in it for the baby). If you need it to help up a reduced supply of milk, do it...but only as long as you need to.

Thanks for the advice, ladies! Yes, this is my first child so I've still got a lot to learn but I'm looking forward to possibly starting a routine in spring of 2010. I've also read that spring is the best time to start so I'm definitley anticipating it. I just wanted to be sure that there was nothing I could be doing before then to encourage the process a little earlier :) I don't think that I'll be using herbs for milk production unless I'm directed to by my doctor so I'll probably just keep stalking the board a little while longer until I'm able to fully throw myself into this.

Until then, thanks again :)

I wonder if a modern day women is able to breast feed her child in consistent short intervals as much as she can, will that help retain her size after she ceases to breast feed?

Finally I can give someone some advice :) my guess is to breastfeed!!! My mom was small like me before breastfeeding and she said after she got prgnant and breastfed for a while, her breasts grew and stayed bigger. So the key is breastfeeding and do it for as long as you can! I know I will. I want boobs :)

Okay, breastfeeding does not make your breasts bigger.....from someone who has breastfed twice, especially if you do it longer than 6-8 months. As the baby needs more milk as they get older, your body releases fat from the fat cells in the breasts to allow the milk ducts to hold more milk. That's why more women shrink after breastfeeding then those who keep their size. My mother kept her size but only because she grew during pregnancy and only breastfed for 3 months. If you don't grow during pregnancy, the only size increase you'll have during nursing will be from the extra milk. When the milk is gone, so is the size.

There are some exceptions to every rule.


Momma2be, I don't know how many doctors will actually recommend herbs to increase milk supply. Mine didn't but my daughters peditrician did. He's actually recommended natural treatments a few times, that's why I love taking my kids to him. I've never had another doctor that did recommend natural alternatives.

I guess it does make sense about how the body would release fat from the fat cells. Especailly when I think about my one sister who actually ended up SMALLER than when she started after breast feeding each of her children for about 8 months. And yet my other sister who breastfed each of her boys for only 3 months stayed approx the same size. Very interesting....and defintely food for thought. I'm gonna have to do some more research on that.

Thanks ladies :)