Do Big Breasts Produce More Milk?
April 20th, 2008
This is one of the most frequently asked questions that we receive in our email box every week from men and women. Having big breasts does not determine how much milk breasts make but it may influence how often a woman needs to nurse to maintain a certain amount of supply. Women who have larger breasts can hold more milk before their breasts begin to get engorged with too much milk. As breasts become fuller, the tightness or engorgement of the breast tissue signals the milk producing glands to slow milk production.
How Much Milk?
The amount of milk breasts produce depends on how often a woman breastfeeds her baby. If the baby sucks more, the breasts will make more milk. Unlike bottles, breasts are neither full nor empty because breasts continue to make milk while you breastfeed. To make more milk, mothers should feed their babies frequently. One tip we learned about is that more milk-making hormone is secreted at night than during the day and this helps to keep up the milk supply.
New research has shown that the milk storage capacity varies a lot between women. Breast milk is produced continually and it accumulates in the milk ducts between feedings. During feeding, a baby typically empties about 70-80% of the milk in the breast. Studies now show that some women had three times as big a storage capacity than others but that all of them produced the same amount of milk over a 24-hour period. It is interesting to note that a woman with twins will usually produce more milk then a woman with only one baby.
This means that women with small storage capacity breasts need to nurse more often, and the babies take in less per feeding. Women whose breasts have a larger storage capacity can deliver more milk in one feeding, and so the baby needs to nurse fewer times per day. Study the feeding demand of the child and let the baby set the frequency of breastfeeding, not the clock or some other written guide.
Even flat-chested women, who don’t have practically any fat cells in their breasts, can breastfeed. It is difficult to determine final breast size and storage capacity until after a woman’s first pregnancy because the milk-producing cells and milk ducts grow and branch out a lot during the third trimester. The largest breast size is probably when the mature milk comes in about 3-5 days after delivery, because often there is some engorgement during this time.
When breast milk first comes in, the breasts may feel hot, heavy and hard. This fullness is due partly to the increase in blood flow, swollen tissue and hormones in the breasts. This feeling of fullness will only last for a few days before the breasts feel more normal and soft again. To overcome this, women need to feed your baby as frequently as they can.
What About Engorgement?
Breast engorgement is the overfilling of the breasts with milk, which can happen when milk isn’t being removed well from the breasts by breast-feeding, pumping, or expressing by hand. Severely engorged breasts become increasingly hard, swollen, and tender; the nipples and areola can become hard and flattened, making it difficult for a baby to latch on to the breast properly.
If breast engorgement is severe and the breast is hard, the baby sucks but removes little milk. The breasts are stimulated to produce even more milk, increasing the swelling and engorgement. Breast engorgement most commonly occurs during the 2 to 5 days after childbirth, when a mother’s milk supply is developing and her newborn has an irregular breast-feeding routine.
A mother with a regular breast-feeding routine can become engorged if she cannot nurse or pump as much as usual or suddenly stops breast-feeding. A mother who doesn’t begin breast-feeding after childbirth will have several days of mild to moderate breast engorgement that gradually goes away when the breasts aren’t stimulated to produce more milk.
Treatment to reduce pain and swelling includes applying ice or cold compresses and wearing a supportive nursing bra. Hard breasts can be softened by applying heat, massaging them gently, and using your hands to express a small amount of milk from both breasts. Severe breast engorgement can also create tender lymph nodes in the armpits. Without treatment, severe engorgement can lead to blocked milk ducts and breast infection known as mastitis.
After Pregnancy?
At weaning, when the milk is no longer needed, the milk glands gradually atrophy or shrivel up. The breast will shrink in size. Then, over a period of few months or up to 6 months, fat is deposited back to the breast, and often the breast becomes about the same size as before pregnancy. Hiddenfeet has received dozens of beautiful “before and after” pictures of young mothers showing their amazing development. Remember that every women develops differently and the amount breasts grow or shrink can vary greatly. Be happy with your changing body and keep sending us your pictures and stories!
Motherhood and Big Breasts
This article posted on the Rutgers alumnae website chronicles the story of a young woman and her changing body. She understands the value of her milk and its important role in her child’s development.
“I am blessed so much milk production that I could open my own Dairy Queen. In the past, I have had an ambivalent relationship with my breasts. After having a childhood of taunts about my big ‘boobs’ and men treating me, the thirteen year old, like a twenty three year old, you get the picture. Now, however, I become infatuated with my new love of my breasts. I can’t believe I’ve overlooked this phenomenal function that I now can proudly take full ownership of.”
Awesome read, thank you very much for posting. I’m still nursing two girls and have seen my share of growth and shrinking over the past few month. My nurse mentions like your post, that swelling is normal and to be careful about engorgement. As long as I can feed my girls - thats all I care about. Sure buying clothing that is stretchy gets annoying but oh well. I will continue to feed, thats what the boobs are for!
Sagginess is probably one of the top reasons women are scared when they grow during pregnancy. Support for the breast through proper bras will aid in comfort but I don’t believe them to matter much for what a woman’s breasts develop into after breastfeeding. After my first and only child my breasts returned to their original size as if nothing happened. I am finding that for women who don’t return to their original size, it is because they altered their diet during pregnancy and continued this diet afterwards. Saturated fats will deposit in the breasts if you consume them frequently. There are many many fit celebrities and women who are able to return a comfortable size after pregnancy because of proper diet and exercise.
I found this article that might add more to this conversation Sara. It even says your breasts may feel itchy as the skin stretches, and you may even develop stretch marks on them.
It’s comforting to know they return to their original size after pregnancy. I heard horror stories of them shrinking to almost nothing afterwards. I’m glad the fat is redeposited. But I wonder what affects that process though. I think people believe they just shrink over time and sag, but I also heard of others who ended up with breasts even larger than before.
The problem with that article Kelly is that it recommends women but a bra too big with room to grow into. While it is expensive to continually buy bras as you go up the sizes, the is little point in wasting money on a bra thats too big and offers little support. Whats the point? We want our bras to prevent tissue damage and ofter comfort not to wear just for fashion reasons. Sara would probably agree, and she is more of an expert, that a bra too big would slide around and make the skin rash.
Mimimaternity.com is where I bought my bras during my pregnancy. But like the other girls posting, I went back to my same DD size after I stopped breastfeeding.
How do you keep your big breast size AFTER pregnancy?
Pretty much sums it up. Lets hope guys are not getting their girlfriends pregnant hoping for a bustier girlfriend.
I was a C but am now a D after my daughter was born. When you’re pregnant, your body has very high levels of estrogen and my nurse mentioned that this can make you hungry (obviously you are eating for 2 now) and gain weight. My extra cup size is from my diet I believe. I was eating more dairy products like yogurt, milk, and cheese. I think if I cut back I could reach a C cup again. This is my summer resolution!
There are lots of different experiences being posted here. I do tend to agree that all things being equal a woman will return to her normal size after breastfeeding.
“Being pregnant, I’ll have bigger boobs. That’s one of the many good things I can think of that will come of it!” - Nicole Kidman
Thanks for all the comments and links - great to see so much talk over the weekend!
luckySeven, I’d tell them that if they want a busty girlfriend, they should find one rather than being with a woman who has small breasts and hoping that they’ll get bigger somehow. That’s not honoring her. If they aren’t able to love them fully as they are, they should let them go and find someone they do love as they are.
Kelly there’s no real treatment for stretch marks but watching your weight gain will help prevent them from looking their worst. I have heard that several months after the baby is born, the marks will fade slightly and blend with your natural tone becoming less visible.
Engorgement was a pain for me. I remember that my baby choked often because the milk would flow so quickly. Aim for at least eight to 12 feedings every 24 hours, and let your baby nurse at the breast as long as he will. Thats what helped. Also as a general rule, heat gets the milk flowing, and cold reduces swelling of engorged breasts.
Madison from Seattle
My husband and I are expecting our first child soon. My friend told me about this tip and I thought she was crazy but it looks like women are really doing it. They basically ease breast pain through cold cabbage.
This article says that engorged breasts can cause a fever. True?
“Are swollen, firm, and painful. If severely engorged, they are very swollen, hard, shiny, warm, and slightly lumpy to the touch. May have flattened-out nipples. The dark area around the nipple, called the areola, may be very hard. This makes it difficult for your baby to latch on. Can cause a slight fever of around 100 F. Can cause slightly swollen and tender lymph nodes in your armpits.”
Easing the pain by using hot packs on your breasts worked for me. They can be just a hot water bottle or you can use a towel soaked in warm/hot water. Or take a warm shower or bath.
Breast fullness is completely normal but yes engorgement can cause problems and discomfort. I would pump my breasts at work and save the milk in bottles for my daughter when I got home.
Not to complain but girls always think my boobs are big because I was pregnant. I was large before my pregnancy but girls are always approaching me asking if I kept my size after my daughter was born. Everyone is soooo interested in big boobs.
I was lucky that my job had a nice sized private room for parents to breastfeed and pump. They even had a fridge to store my bottled breast milk for when I would head home. My two boys were always fed breast milk and I do believe it to be worth the trouble. Sure a powdered formula would have been easier, but I don’t trust the quality control of the companies making it. Even it it were to be healthy, who is to say something doesn’t get contaminated? It isn’t always easy to tell when a baby is getting a stomach ache.