Dear J.,
Research shows that any kind of breast surgery is likely to lead to an
inadequate milk supply for a child. Read the full answer...
According to the Institute of Medicine (IOM), any kind of breast
surgery, including breast implant surgery, makes it at least three times
more likely that a woman trying to breastfeed will have an inadequate milk
supply (lactation insufficiency).
The IOM based that conclusion on a number of studies of women with breast implants or other breast surgery. A
description of those studies follows.
In a study conducted by Dr. Marianne Neifert and colleagues at the
University of Colorado School of Medicine, women who had breast surgery were
three times more likely to have lactation insufficiency than those that did
not have breast surgery
The doctors compared the rate of weight gain of
breastfed infants born to mothers who either did or did not have previous
breast surgery. Mothers whose babies did not gain at least one ounce per
day, or who required supplemental feedings with formula, were deemed to have
lactation insufficiency.
Interestingly, the women who had breast surgery
through an incision in the nipple area (periareolar incision) had even
higher rates of problems. Those women were five times more likely to have
insufficient milk compared to women without breast surgery.
In a study by Nancy Hurst, RN, MSN, from Texas Children's Hospital, 64%
of women with breast implants had lactation insufficiency, compared to 7% of
women without implants. Periareolar incision was most likely to cause a
problem, but other incisions also made it significantly more difficult for
women to nurse.
A study by Dr. Sara Strom and others at the University of Texas M.D.
Anderson Cancer Center looked at nursing rates among 46 new mothers who had
previously received saline-filled breast implants.
Of those women, 28 chose
to breastfeed their baby, but 11 (39%) had problems breastfeeding. Eight of
those 11 had problems that they attributed to their breast implant. Seven
out of eight of those women received their implant through a periareolar
incision.
I am thinking of breast implant surgery but have not had babies yet.
Will having implants effect breast feeding? - J. Michaels, Chicago
