A Note on Exploding Boobs
If you’re breastfeeding, seriously, your boobs may explode. Allow me to explain. The assumption is that you and your boobs are on the same team. Surely since you’re teammates, you’d think they’d make milk only when needed. Just like the football kicker who only kicks for the extra point after a touchdown. Or how the runner waits for the baton to be handed off before sprinting away.
Well, this assumption is lie #1
Unfortunately, milk let down is under the rule of lots of hormones, which may not coincide with your daily obligations. This is only problematic if you plan to go…well anywhere in public.
For example, I shared in my last post that I returned to work. (You can read that post HERE.) In one of those early days back, I was in the midst of a busy day of seeing patients when I felt something dripping from the bottom of my shirt. Initially, I was confused. Had it been raining when I came inside? Or was I standing under a leaking A/C vent? However, after some investigation, I realized it was neither rain nor a leaky vent. It was indeed, exploding boobs. Those suckers had rebelled against me. And we aren’t talking about a little leak. We’re talking about Yellowstone’s Old Faithful. Lucky for me, I was wearing a black shirt. It was my saving grace. New mamas, wear a black shirt, you’ll thank me later.
Lie # 2: The baby weight just falls off!
Did anyone else hear that if you breastfeed the baby weight “just falls off”? So with much excitement you started breastfeeding eager to experience this phenomenon. Maybe you even pulled your skinny jeans out from the back corner of the closet where they’ve been hanging, ever since you hit 14 weeks pregnant in hopes that they’d be back in action soon. Only to find month after month that NOTHING FELL OFF?!
Yeah, me too.
I’m sorry to break this to you, but nothing “falls off”, “melts away”, or whatever terminology you heard this lie told with. None of it happens. Don’t just believe me though, let’s consult science. According to this review of several articles on the effects of breastfeeding, it does help with weight loss, but only by a small amount. How small? Approximately 1.5 to 4.5 pounds over the course of 12 months. Other studies say they found no differences in weight loss between mothers who were breastfeeding vs. using formula.
We know breastfeeding moms tend to burn about 500 extra calories per day, but we also know that breastfeeding can increase hunger. So despite the studies, it’s hard to say what the effects are on weight exactly. But I think it’s fair to go ahead and dismiss that the “baby weight just falls off” as anything other than a fairytale, a Santa-level belief or anything else mythical that we wish were true.
And if you are one of those unicorn women who lost tons of weight and attributes it to breastfeeding, we love you, but do the rest of us a favor and just keep that to yourself. Some of us are still mourning our skinny jeans.
Lie 3: Breastfeeding is free.
According to Katie Hinde, who currently is the Director of the Comparative Lactation Lab at Arizona State University, “breastfeeding is only free, if we don’t value women’s time and energy.”
All I can say to this is “amen!” When I returned to my job that required some overnight travel, pumping felt like traveling with a puppy. There was a giant cooler and ice that always needed to be changed out. I’ve already mentioned the somewhat rebellious nature of boobs that aren’t being closely attended to. And there was a lot of time spent washing little plastic pieces in hotel bathroom sinks. The truth is while breastfeeding may not cost money as in dollars and cents, it certainly isn’t free.
Lie 4: Breastfeeding doesn’t hurt
Unless you’ve been recently breastfeeding, chances are it may not feel wonderful. According to THIS article newborns need to nurse somewhere between 10-12 times per day. And from what I remember, Ray nursed approximately 100 times per day. That’s a lot of nursing. Lord bless you if your baby is like mine.
I have a nurse-friend who experienced a lot of pain with breastfeeding. “My nipples just weren’t used to getting treated that way” she said. “It just didn’t feel great and then I got mastitis too. The best advice I’d give to anyone having trouble,” she encouraged, “is to work with a lactation consultant. My lactation consultant was extremely helpful and many of them are even covered by insurance these days.”
Yes, a lactation consultant is a great tip! These are people who have made all things breastfeeding their profession. Thank you for sharing, nurse-friend!
Lie 5: If you don’t or cannot breastfeed you’re a failure.
Should you decide you do not want to breastfeed for ANY reason. Or should you not be able to breastfeed for ANY reason, know this: your baby will be just fine. God knew whether that baby would be able to breastfeed or not and he will take care of it. Do not let this one thing, nag you to misery or guilt. Fed is best.
Truth: Breastfeeding is kind-of-a superpower
Despite exploding boobs, and the fact that it’s not actually a magic pill to help you fit back in those skinny jeans, breastfeeding is still kind-of our superpower.
Among many other amazing benefits, did you know recent research found that when a baby’s saliva mixes with his mother’s milk it produces a compound of hydrogen peroxide that is strong enough to kill staph and salmonella?! You can read more about it HERE in Katie Hinde’s blog post.
Also, a mother’s milk can provide antibodies. Again, in the words of Katie (I’ve cited her enough to be on first name basis by now, right?) “When a baby suckles at its mother’s breast, a vacuum is created. Within that vacuum, the infant’s saliva is sucked back into the mother’s nipple, where receptors in her mammary gland read its signals. This “baby spit backwash,” contains information about the baby’s immune status. Everything scientists know about physiology indicates that baby spit backwash is one of the ways that breast milk adjusts its immunological composition. If the mammary gland receptors detect the presence of pathogens, they compel the mother’s body to produce antibodies to fight it, and those antibodies travel through breast milk back into the baby’s body, where they target the infection.”
Isn’t that amazing?
If you find yourself as intrigued as I am by this God-given superpower of breastfeeding, I highly recommend looking into these resources:
- This 2017 TED talk from Katie Hinde, “What We Don’t Know about Mother’s Milk”
- Katie Hinde’s Academic Blog, “Mammals suck…milk!” It is amazing!
- The La Leche League, which is a fabulous resource to help empower and support mamas in their breastfeeding journey.
- Kelly Mom is a blog that provides great evidence-base articles, the ones on breastfeeding can be found HERE.
Also, not to be left out, I found two great podcasts regarding breastfeeding!
- The All Things Breastfeeding Podcast – Great resource, I listened to episode 46: Busting Breastfeeding Myths as well as episode 51: Breastmilk changes overtime.
- And the Badass Breastfeeding Podcast – For this one I listened to episode 128, because the title was hilarious, “Lopsided and Shi**y Titties.” It did not disappoint.
- I think both of these podcasts have wonderful resources and advice for any breastfeeding mamas out there.
Until next time, Cheers!