How to restore breasts after childbirth, tighten and maintain shape

Is it possible to restore breasts after childbirth?

Many women believe that breastfeeding is the main reason that breasts lose shape. This is not entirely true; there are factors that can change its appearance even more:

Excess weight. Overweight mothers are more likely to experience similar problems.
Previous pregnancies. The more children you have, the higher the chances that your breasts will lose shape.
Big size. During pregnancy, it will become even larger, and the load on the ligaments and skin will increase.
Age. Don't forget that during pregnancy and lactation your breasts will become approximately two years older, and take into account age-related changes.
Heredity. If your mother had this problem, it may happen to you too.

Rate yourself on this list - this will give you a rough idea of how much your breasts may be affected. If you have few risk factors, recovery will likely not be a problem. If there is, just hope for the best and do your best.

Summary

Large breasts can be a nuisance or a source of pain. Some natural methods can help you reduce breast size, such as losing weight and eating right. Wearing special bras and wrapping can reduce the appearance of the breasts.

When natural remedies don't work, you can talk to your doctor about breast reduction surgery.

Talking about breast size can be an emotional topic due to social and cultural beliefs about the meaning of breasts and how women should feel about their own breasts. Doctors understand the problems women with very large breasts face and can help.

How to restore breast firmness after childbirth?

No one can guarantee that after childbirth and breastfeeding, your breasts will remain the way you knew and loved them. However, if you take good care of your body, your chances will increase significantly. Keep 10 valuable recommendations, the implementation of which reduces the risk of being left with two “deflated balloons” after finishing feeding.

Do exercises

There is no muscle tissue in your mammary glands, so you will not be able to “pump up” them. But underneath them there is: the pectoralis major and minor muscles are located there. When they are in good shape, your breasts will look more perky, so any reasonable physical activity and exercise that targets these muscles will be beneficial.

Wear a bra

Gravity is one of the natural enemies. Wear a bra, and when choosing it, first of all, pay attention not to the design, but to the comfort and support properties. You'll likely have to ditch your old bras for a while and buy new ones because your breasts will increase in size later in pregnancy and stay that way during breastfeeding.

Don't slouch

The bra straps pull the cups up, thereby lifting your breasts. When you slouch, all that wonderful structure sags and the support deteriorates. So straighten your shoulders and straighten your back - this is one of the secrets to maintaining breast shape after childbirth.

Take care of your skin

The firmness of your breasts, in particular, depends on the firmness of your skin, and you can influence this. Moisturize it with natural remedies, such as lotions with herbal extracts. Use a gentle scrub or loofah pad every day to remove dead skin cells to improve blood circulation and improve skin elasticity.

Watch your diet

Try to eat a balanced diet, eat more vegetables and whole grains. Reduce your intake of high-cholesterol animal fats and replace them with vegetable oils. A good choice is olive oil. In addition to fatty acids that are easy for the body, it is rich in vitamin E - the same tocopherol that is found in almost every skin care product.

Take a contrast shower

How does a contrast shower help preserve breasts after childbirth? It improves blood circulation in the skin - hot water opens the pores, and cold water tightens them. We can say that with its help the skin does “cyclical training”, thanks to which it maintains its tone and elasticity.

Feed your baby in a comfortable position

Have you watched the cartoon about a curious baby elephant who was grabbed by the nose by a crocodile and turned into a long trunk? Watch it with your child - this is a wonderful hand-drawn short film based on a story by Rudyard Kipling. So, if a baby is forced to reach for the nipple, the same thing can happen to your breast as to a baby elephant’s nose. Find a position that keeps your breasts in a comfortable position and does not stretch, for example, place a pillow on your lap before you start feeding.

Stop breastfeeding gradually

Experts do not recommend abruptly interrupting feeding: it is better to first cancel one of the daily feedings, after a few days - the second, and so on. Step-by-step refusal of mother's milk will be the most comfortable and painless for the baby. Surprisingly, it will also help maintain the shape and size of the breasts after childbirth - a gradual decrease in lactation promotes the natural restoration of fatty tissue.

Don't try to lose weight quickly

As with the end of breastfeeding, there is no need to rush to return your figure to its pre-pregnancy form. Eat a healthy diet, give your body moderate exercise, and your weight will gradually return to normal. If you try to force things, the skin may not have time to recover and will hang in unnecessary folds in the most inappropriate places.

Quit smoking

We hope that you know about the dangers of smoking during pregnancy and breastfeeding, but you should still write this advice. Smoking contributes to premature aging of the skin, and the breasts are one of the first to suffer.

A set of 5 proven exercises

In order to have toned breasts, it is not enough to pay attention only to the pectoral muscles. The back muscles also need to be used when performing exercises. A slouched back always gives a visual sensation of sagging breasts, so you need to select exercises that pump up the muscles of the entire corset:

Push ups

It is one of the most effective exercises for working out the area of interest to us. If you cannot do the classic version , push-ups from your knees or push-ups from the wall are suitable for you.

Detailed instructions on how a girl can learn to do push-ups from scratch are here.

We lie down flat on the floor.
Place the palms of the hands under the chest, fingers pointing upward.
Leaning on your toes and palms, push your body off the floor, fully straightening your arms. You cannot bend your lower back - your body should be straight like a plank.

You need to perform ten repetitions in two to three approaches.

We start push-ups with several exercises. When the muscles begin to strengthen, we increase the amount. Rest time is up to thirty seconds.

Dumbbell Bench Press

Includes large and small muscles. We definitely recommend that you familiarize yourself with the 4 most common myths about the effect of the “Bench Press” on women’s breasts.

Squatting down with a straight back, we take dumbbells from the floor. Straightening our legs at the knees, we rise.
We place the dumbbells on the hips and lie with our backs on the gymnastic bench. We spread our legs slightly and rest our feet on the floor. Bring the dumbbells to your chest.
Straightening your arms at the elbows, as you exhale, raise your arms with dumbbells up. Perform eight repetitions in several sets.

This is one of the 7 best dumbbell exercises for the chest. We start by performing several repetitions, gradually increasing their number. The time to relax the muscles is one minute.

Incline bench fly

The layout not only works on the area of interest to us, but also perfectly removes fat from the armpits.

To work the lower part of the chest muscles, raise the corner of the bench up. To work the upper part of the muscles, lower the corner of the bench down.
Ask your partner to hand you dumbbells and place them in the chest area. Press the dumbbells up and out to the sides. Elbows point down all the time.
Bring the dumbbells together at the top while exhaling.

Perform eight repetitions, doing several sets.

We start by performing several exercises, gradually increasing the number of repetitions. Time for relaxation is one minute.

Bent-over row

We work the corset muscles. About the benefits of “Thrust” for women and 3 types, see here.

We squat and take dumbbells from the floor with a straight grip.
We bend our knees slightly and pull the dumbbells up from the middle of the shin to the waist.
We tilt the body at an obtuse angle. If we use traction while bending at a right angle, there will be a large load on the lower back.
We make the effort (traction) while exhaling.

First, we select the minimum weight of dumbbells. The number of exercises is ten times using several approaches.

How to restore sagging breasts after childbirth?

During pregnancy and breastfeeding, your breasts undergo amazing metamorphoses. Large and full after childbirth, it changes every day several times - first the baby empties it, then it fills up again. Your breasts will look different all the time, and no one knows in what shape they will finish this marathon. If by the end of feeding she really seriously sag, nothing can be done about it. Therefore, follow our advice every day - this way you will minimize the risks.

You may hear another piece of advice from some people: stop breastfeeding completely and feed your baby formula from birth. Please don't do this! Firstly, you are depriving your child of the most natural and healthy food, which no formula can even come close to matching. And secondly, you won’t achieve your goal either. Your breasts begin to change not when you start breastfeeding, but even during pregnancy. The amount of adipose tissue, which is responsible for a pleasant roundness, decreases, and the amount of glandular tissue (from the word “gland”, not “iron”) increases to ensure sufficient milk production. Refusal to breastfeed will cause the glandular tissue to quickly dissolve and release volume, while the fatty tissue may not be restored completely.

Be prepared for leaks!

Even after the cessation of lactation or in its last stages, unexpected copious discharge of milk from the breast is possible. This can happen when hugging a partner, when having sex with him, when being sexually aroused, when thinking about a child, when touching the breast. To prevent unexpected milk leaks, wear absorbent pads in your bra. Keep a spare supply of such gaskets with you. Wear dark-colored tops so that milk stains are not as noticeable. Take a spare set of clothes with you, especially for more important occasions.

Express some milk before leaving the house. If you feel milk leaking, cross your arms over your chest to stop the flow.

In all cases, get advice from a breastfeeding specialist on how best to stop lactation in your case.

Is it possible to have a breast lift after childbirth?

Doctors do not consider changes in breast shape after childbirth to be a medical problem. This is purely an aesthetic issue, so you can just accept that your body is different than before and live with it. If you can’t come to terms with it, go to a plastic surgery clinic and they will perform a facelift operation.

With mastopexy (as this procedure is officially called), the doctor removes excess glandular, fatty and skin tissue, corrects overstretched ligaments that support the mammary glands, and also repositions the nipple and areola (moves them slightly upward). In some cases, the surgeon recommends both tightening the breasts after childbirth and simultaneously enlarging them in order to restore firmness and achieve the correct shape. This is such a nice bonus.

Understanding and respecting your desire to be beautiful, we are obliged to remind you that a facelift is a serious surgical operation with its own contraindications and possible complications. Listen carefully to the doctor’s recommendations, weigh the pros and cons - and only then make a decision.

Tip 5: Do not use questionable methods to complete lactation

Under no circumstances use “grandmother’s” methods to stop lactation: do not tighten your breasts. This injures the glandular tissue and provokes mastitis. You should not limit yourself to food and drink while breastfeeding is over. Such a diet will bring nothing but exhaustion and the risk of lactostasis.

Polina Lykova: “In addition, it is not recommended to take special drugs that suppress lactation. They interfere with hormone production and can negatively impact subsequent lactation and maternal health.”

Tip 6: Give your child maximum attention

When completing lactation, try to give your baby as much attention as possible. With your affection and love, you will show that stopping breastfeeding will not change the relationship between you. After all, breasts for a baby are not only a source of nutrition, but also a way to calm down, feel needed and loved.

Polina Lykova: “It is also undesirable, in order to complete lactation as quickly as possible, to hand over the child to grandmothers for a while or go away yourself, tell a story about a “sick” breast (smearing it with brilliant green, etc.), and also make fun of the child, comparing him with other children. By doing this you can frighten him and violate his trust.”