SAGGING BREASTS

Are you breastfeeding your baby? Chances are, once you wean your baby, your breasts will sag. Although there is little you can do to prevent sagging, here is what you can do to minimize it.

At some time or another, breasts will sag. Needless to say, you would want them to sag at as late a stage as possible.

Breasts often sag after breastfeeding or even if you have not breastfed your child and your breasts had gotten engorged, after constant fluctuations in weight, or sometime around menopause.

Most commonly, breasts start sagging after you have weaned your child from breastfeeding.

Breasts are composed of fat and tissues. There are no muscles or ligaments in breasts, which is why they are prone to sagging. During breastfeeding, your baby keeps sucking out the milk and pulling your breasts downward. This causes the tissue in your breasts to stretch. In addition, breasts are filled with milk, and the skin around your breasts has stretched. When the breast empties, the skin may not shrink to accommodate a lesser volume. As a result, skin tends to hang on the breasts, making them sag.

More often than not, your breasts will sag after breastfeeding. However, whether or not your breasts will sag after breastfeeding largely depends on your skin and its elasticity. More elastic skin will be able to recover from constant pulling and stretching, and after weaning, such breasts may not sag.

Cream

Moisturise your breasts regularly, twice a day, when breastfeeding. This keeps the skin nourished.

Massage

Massage your breasts for at least ten minutes everyday, to keep skin supple and boost circulation in the breasts.

Exercise

Exercise regularly. Exercise forces some movement of the breasts, and this helps strengthen them and boost circulation. You could do exercises that target the chest muscles to give the impression of firmer breasts. No exercise targets your breasts, and exercise by themselves cannot firm saggy breasts.

Feeding style

If you tend to rest your baby on your lap and bend down while breastfeeding, your breasts are certain to sag. The way you breastfeed can help reduce sagging. Place your elbow on a high cushion so you can cradle your baby higher in your arms. Position your baby so he sucks outwards and not downwards. Place your entire other hand under your breast, and offer it to your baby. Keep holding and supporting your breast well while breastfeeding. This will not prevent sagging, but will reduce its effect.

Bras

Make sure you wear a bra that gives you proper support during your pregnancy and when breastfeeding. In general, not wearing a bra forces your breasts to rely on self-support, and this strengthens them. However, this could also work against you, as bras give the breast support and help delay gravity�s effect, especially during pregnancy and breastfeeding, when the added weight pushes your breasts further downwards. So going about braless all the time could also make breasts sag. Your best bet would be to wear a bra most of the time, and to go braless every once in a while, expect when pregnant or nursing.edback on article