Image courtesy of Lourdesoftheflies

There are a lot of myths about breastfeeding. Some say it will always hurt and there’s nothing you can do about it. Some say that after X amount of time the nursling doesn’t get any nutrition from it. Some say that formula is just as healthy for baby.

One that I seems to consistently hear is breastfeeding makes your breasts sag.

(in the voice of Dr. Cox from Scrubs) Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong. You’re wrong. You’re wrong.

Seriously, breastfeeding has nothing to do with making your breasts saggy, floppy, deflated, etc. I was reading a blog post from a mom who recently stopped breastfeeding. The post wasn’t even about how her breasts look afterwards, but about sex after breastfeeding. Though the post-breastfeeding saggy boobs myth was of course mentioned in passing:

And since nursing can permanently change your breasts, which left me, for one, feeling less sexy, a little lace and lift couldn’t hurt.

This couldn’t be further from wrong. Yes, your breasts will look different after breastfeeding, but it’s not the breastfeeding that caused that. Having that baby in your belly to begin with caused it. Yeah, that’s right, pregnancy (along with smoking and age) is the thing that causes your breasts to change. Breastfeeding just delays the process.

So what’s the problem with moms thinking it’s breastfeeding? In the United States, the national average for moms just trying to breastfeed even once is 75%. That’s 1/4 of new moms who don’t even attempt to breastfeed. While I’m all for choice, I do feel concerned that some of those moms aren’t making an educated decision. No, I’m not saying they’re stupid, we just live in a society where we’re not given the facts about breastfeeding. Almost everything we hear about it is from other moms who tell us it hurt or they didn’t make enough milk or various other things. If you don’t know the facts, you may just decide it’s not worth it. Even if you do know the facts (with various ads saying “breast is best”), they’re still abstract facts. Do you think a soon-to-be mom fully understands the concept of their baby having less ear infections? It’s hard to even comprehend that your child will one day be a grown adult (I still can’t do that with my toddler!), let alone picturing them as a {more likely to be} healthier, smarter adult than without breastfeeding.

You know what it easy to comprehend? Your boobs. I remember being enormously pregnant and feeling like a beached whale (that also ate too much and was pregnant with probably quadruplets). Yeah, I felt that big. If you’ve ever been pregnant, you know how it feels. I loved that my body was holding something to precious and wonderful inside of it and simultaneously absolutely hated how it looked. One {very selfish} thing I was anticipating with the birth of my child was “having my body back” and actually being able to feel sexy again! Who knows, maybe in a different world where I didn’t know the facts, I would have thought that breastfeeding somehow hurt my chances of feeling like myself again.

What are some of the worst breastfeeding myths you’ve heard? Do you know anyone who chose not to breastfeed because one of these untruths? How can we stop the spreading of these lies that put breastfeeding into a bad light?

Also, check out this awesome article from the Montgomery Advertiser that contains zero breastfeeding myths! It’s a rarity for a non-attachment parenting newspaper, online source, etc. to actually get all the facts about breastfeeding right. Yay!