When I took my pre-natal class at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, we did a ?thank-you? exercise. Every couple in the room was given a thank-you card, from their unborn child, thanking the mother for breastfeeding. As we went around the room reading aloud (?thank you for giving me the best start in life,? ?thank you for saving our family?s money?), I began to feel sick. During the lunch break, I approached the instructor and, as quietly as I could, I said, ?I had breast reduction surgery?will I be able to breastfeed" What can I do to make it work"?
I had breast reduction surgery when I was 16 years old, and, at the time, my surgeon assured me that the surgery should have no impact on my ability to breastfeed. Within a few years of the surgery, I pretty much forgot about it?my new, smaller breasts simply became a part of my new, more confident self and I rarely gave them or the surgery much thought. Until, that is, I became pregnant.
Suddenly, everyone who knew about my reduction began telling me that I?d be unable to breastfeed. I was devastated but also defiant?I wanted, like every mother, to give my child the best start in life and to me that meant breastfeeding. And the surgeon had said it would be fine.
I learned pretty quickly that that might not be the case. The ability to breastfeed, as far I as I learned, hinges on three things: hormones, stimulation (your body feeling the baby sucking), and milk ducts. Breast reduction surgery can sever milk ducts and ner...