Big Boobs and Breastfeeding.....Say What?

Back in October 2014 I responded to an article by BellyBelly regarding bigger boobs and breastfeeding. Well, I thought I'd revisit the issues/myths that article raised and perpetuated. So, here is why I responded; Before I was pregnant with my first I was 'bigger than average' in the breast department. I was a 36G, 8+ years ago this was MASSIVE! People would gawp! Now, when you're that big pre pregnancy, you know full well you're going to expand post pregnancy. I knew I wanted to breastfeed and nothing else and I knew it would be a challenge finding a bra but funnily enough, I didn't think breastfeeding would be a challenge. The weeks rolled by, my belly expanded but I remained in my 36G bra right to the end of my 42 week pregnancy. I was excited by this as I though "yes! I won't have even bigger mams"..... How wrong was I lol. My baby arrived and she didn't really feed, I struggled and struggled. I asked for help from overstretched and over worked midwives and they would come an tell me "your breasts are too big, there is no way you will ever breastfeed that baby." The anger and resentment towards the very people who had told me all the way through 42 weeks of my pregnancy that "breast was best" was overwhelming! All I could see was red when I looked at them. It resolved my determination to prove them WRONG! Yes, I did struggle but by the 3rd day of my baby being earth side, we had cracked it she was feeding like a champ. We still ended up back in hospital but I still fed her at my breast. My community midwife however needs championing as she supported me and my decision and never once told me I couldn't do it! After leaving hospital my baby fed and fed and fed, I have photos to prove it lol. My boobs also grew and grew and grew! I was measured for a nursing bra before my baby arrived on the advice of so many books and websites. Guess what, this was a HUGE mistake! I did not make this mistake the second time around! The books and 'experts' (using that term very very losely) say you will go up 2 sizes, like it's a set in stone fact! This is just simply not the case! That's not just for those of us well endowed with massive mams, that is every mother large or small! I personally ballooned past the 2 size rule once my milk came in. I was a JJ or a K depending on the bra manufacturer. Buying a nursing bra in that sizs 8+ years ago was sooooooo hard and sooooooo expensive. They just didn't really exist! The bra I'd bought that I'd been measured for was laughably too small and was, as a result, very uncomfortable. I ended up wearing Carriwell drop cup nursing bra that I'd got on offer from boots. They weren't the slightest bit supportive but they stretched. Now in the first few weeks (varies from person to person) stretchy bras are waaaay more important than supportive bras because your boobs fluctuate in size so much it's unreal. Buying a bra BEFORE you have a baby is an expensive and completely 100% pointless exercise. Don't bother, buy stretchy bras until your production settles down. There is this assertion too that you mustn't wear under wired bra's or you'll end up with mastitis. I wore underwired bras, I had no choice but to wear converted under wire bras or my huge boobs would have been down by my knees in a mono-boob. Never once did I suffer from mastitis or blocked ducts because of a bra. A well fitting under wire is important, irrespective of if you are feeding or not. You have to wear what YOU feel comfortable in, not what a book/blog/stranger in the street tells you to wear. An under wire bra might not suit you and may well trigger mastitis but until you try, you have no idea. In BellyBelly's article they made an assumption that big boobed women don't notice let down and engorgement. This is beyond rubbish! My breasts felt let down so bad, I'd cry! It was like hot sharp glass/knives ripping through my breasts. I can still remember the pain. That lasted about 3 months and it would happen any time of the day, whether my baby needed feeding or not. I also suffered engorgement on occasions and I would leak like mad! I didn't really suffer from flat nipples but sometimes they would be flatter than is ideal to feed, a little tweaking and a little hand expressing sorted that right out. Not every big boobed mum suffers flat nipples, not every small boobed mum has pointy out nipples. Frankly, BellyBelly's article was atrocious in peddling myth after myth, they generalised and scaremongered and suggested that things, that in fact can and does affect every breastfeeding dyad only affects big boobed mum's. So much misinformation in one poorly researched article was just heartbreaking. I couldn't help thinking that some mum's who were pregnant back in Oct 2014 who had a bit more boob than a DD, who'd read that article though "well I shan't bother." It was such a shit article it made my head hurt. Breastfeeding can be challenging but it's not entirely dependent on how much you have in your bra even though BellyBelly's article seemed to heavily imply that. Some women, big or small, round or flat may experience flat nipples, let down, a huge jump in breast size, mastitis, blocked ducts etc etc etc, other women may never ever experience this regardless of size/shape/weight etc. It was such a generalising article it was ridiculous and about as credibly as a formula company promoting breastfeeding. The article mentioned feeding in public.....they might have well have said "oi, big tits, DON'T BOTHER." It was probably the shittiest part of the article along side the bit about feeding techniques (poor). Seriously ALL women may feel a bit self conscious about feeding in public for one reason or another! I found feeding in public a doddle, my 36K mams were never ever on show, I could hide pretty much all my breast, even while latching but you know what, it's a boob! It's no big deal! You see more on a night out than when someone feeds a baby! I was feeding my bubba's in my stretchy bras just days after they were born but I wasn't afraid to bear a bit of boobage. Other women, considerably smaller than me may well be petrified of feeding in public. To attatch it to being a big boob issue is frankly insulting! One of the things I did before feeding out and about was I would sit in front of a mirror and also ask my husband if he could see anything. I wore a belly band so my tummy was covered and I'd hoik my top up just enough to expose my nipple/latching area. You couldn't see a thing and if you could, you were looking to closely lol. It doesn't matter if you're big or small, sitting in front of a mirror and/or someone you feel comfortable feeding in front of to see if anything can be seen and help you overcome any fears about public breastfeeding, is good advice. You will also find that it's mostly keyboard warriors who are against public breastfeeding and in real life, they are far too afraid to actually say anything. I realise this bog is a bit lengthy but to be honest, it needs to be. So many women with larger breasts don't even bother because they are told it's impossible. BellyBelly's article added to that myth! All mum's can suffer latching issues, not just big boobed mum's. All mum's may benefit from having several latching techniques on hand to help them. I know some mum's who could only ever get on with leaning back, others who could only ever pop their nipple in babies mouth, others who didn't have to offer any assistance at all. All these women were all different sizes. There was no 'one size/technique fits all' some dyads need additional support, others don't. Boob size doesn't seem to matter! Squishing nipples to get them in babies mouths can be incredibly painful. It's not fair on mum's to only offer up that suggestion. It may well work for Laura who's a DD but for Susan who a HH it might not work and it might hurt. Thet flipple technique may well have worked very well for me but for Dawn it might have been an impossible nightmare. We can not suggest one type of hold or one type on latch technique to those of use with ample boobs, we must offer all the techniques to all mum's because all mum's deserve to find out what works for them. A good example of this is, the rugby ball hold! I could not get on with this hold at all. It was awkward and cumbersome and it hurt my nipples! I was told over and over by midwives this was the ONLY hold I could do as my boobs were "too big to breastfeed" NONSENSE! It simply is not true! I held my baby in the cradle position because I found it helped to support my boobs as well. Now for Charlotte with a 28K bust, that may not work and she may excel at rugby ball hold but, had she not been told or shown other holds, she may well never know that and it could ultimately sabotage her breastfeeding experience! Do we really want to put off a demographic? No! So let's STOP telling women with big boobs that it's 'more' challenging! It's more challenging because bloggers like BellyBelly perpetuate myths and put up obstacles! They omit important details, they suggest crude things like "you'll suffer itchy breasts/get mastitis/will never be able to breastfeed hands free with 'pendulous' breasts" I mean c'mon, who the hell uses the term "pendulous" when discussing breastfeeding????? Rude! It's nonsense. The article has incensed me that much I've written two blogs on it! It's unfair to attribute breastfeeding challenges to only one fraction of women! All women have the potential to face challenges when breastfeeding, all women have the potential to overcome those challenges! They don't need shitty articles telling them it'll be harder for them cause of xyz! A good place to find latch and hold techniques is YouTube. There are some pretty awesome videos of mum's helping other mums. There are also some pretty awesome IBCLC lactation consultants about who can offer support. Some breastfeeding challenges come from mouth ties which some IBCLC lactation consultant's can diagnose. Please do not let rubbish articles that put a dampener on big boobs and breastfeeding turn you off breastfeeding. It can be done. My K boobies fed my two babies just fine, I could even feed hands free after a while. Everyone is different, no matter how big or small your boobs are. 😊