Question: I have just started breast feeding my baby, who is three weeks old. I keep hearing about the trouble some women have with breast feeding, but I am very keen to feed myself for at least six months, as I know it is better for her. What problems can occur with breast feeding and how can I avoid them?
Many problems can arise with breast feeding, but most are easily prevented and treated, and should not cause feeding to stop. The most common problems are engorgement and infection. If the breasts are swollen and overfilled with milk, expressing the excess milk usually relieves the discomfort. This can be done by hand under a shower or into a container, or with the assistance of a breast pump. At other times, expressed milk may be kept and given to the baby by a sitter while the mother attends a social function. Breast feeding need not tie the mother to the home.
Mastitis is an infection of the breast that requires rapid treatment by a doctor to prevent the formation of an abscess. If one of the many lobes in the breast does not empty its milk, the milk may become infected, and the breast becomes very tender red and sore. Fortunately, antibiotics can usually settle the problem, and it does not mean that the woman must stop feeding.
The best way to determine if the baby is receiving adequate milk is regular weighing at a child welfare clinic or doctor’s surgery. Provided the weight is steadily increasing, there is no need for concern. If the weight gain is very slight, or static, then supplementation of the breast feeds may be required. It is best to offer the breasts first, and once they appear to be empty of milk, a bottle of suitable formula can be given to finish the feed.

Question: When I was a teenager I used to squeeze my breast buds in an attempt to stimulate them to develop larger breasts, but I am now mature and my breasts are very small. Did I harm my breast buds by squeezing them?
Absolutely not! What you did is something many girls do as they start to develop, but there is nothing that will alter the size of the breasts during or after puberty other than manipulation of the sex hormones, a procedure that is not performed because of serious adverse effects on the other sex organs. Many women notice a small increase in breast size when taking the oral contraceptive pill, and pregnancy may result in a permanent enlargement.
Breast size is determined by your choice in parents, by the amount of estrogen produced by your ovaries, and the individual response of your breast tissue to the estrogen. No amount of physical stimulation is going to alter the breast size.
If you are particularly concerned by the small size of your breasts, plastic surgery techniques are available to increase your bust line. In years past, these procedures were bought into disrepute by silicon leakage from the prostheses used to increase the breast size, but better prostheses and improved operations have overcome these problems, so that the risks are now minimal.

Question: I have had a mastectomy (breast removal) for cancer, and found that I avoided many complications of restricted arm movement and swelling ol my arm by keeping the arm above my head on a pillow, and moving it as much as possible, starting immediately after the operation.
Arm movement restrictions and lymphoedema (swelling) of the arm are common complications of breast surgery when the glands in the armpit are removed to prevent the further spread of breast cancer.
Lymph is the waste products of the cells, and lymph returns from every cell through a complex network of fine tubes, rather like thin veins. These lymph ducts pass through the lymph glands that concentrate in the armpit, groin, neck and along the inside of your backbone. Tne glands act to remove any germs that may be attempting to penetrate deeper into the body. Eventually the lymph, having being cleaned by the glands, drains into a major vein near the heart.
The complication of lymphoedema (lymph accumulation) alter breast cancer surgery varies dramatically from one patient to another, with only partial relationship to the severity of the surgery. Those who suffer severely may have an arm that is rock hard and three times its normal size. Elevation and pressure bandages are the normal treatments, but a plastic sleeve that envelopes the arm and is rhythmically inflated by a machine is the most successful treatment.
Patients requiring further help with this problem should contact the Lymphoedema Association in their state.

Question: One of my breasts is markedly smaller than the other, in fact one has not developed at all. This becomes a problem when buying bras, as one side fits and the other doesn’t. I am in my late teens and my breasts have always been different sizes. Is it hormonal?
This problem is not as uncommon as you may think. In fact, most women have slight differences in the sizes of their breasts, in the same way that most of us have one foot or hand a fraction larger than the other. In your case, the problem is extreme, and requires treatment. All humans (male and female) have a tiny nodule of breast tissue present behind the nipple from birth. At puberty, the oestrogens in women stimulate this tissue to grow into a breast. The degree of stimulation, the size or original nodule, and (most importantly) hereditary tendencies will determine your breast size.
In your case, you were almost certainly born with no nodule of breast tissue behind one nipple, and therefore there was nothing there for the hormones to stimulate at puberty. It has absolutely nothing to do with your diet or lifestyle. The problem will be a permanent one, and you will not be able to breast feed a baby from the undeveloped breast, but the good breast will be able to produce adequate milk by itself (most mothers of twins successfully breast feed both babies).
There is no magical medication, cream or diet that will help, but plastic surgery will improve your self-image and appearance dramatically. You should not instantly exclude surgery, because the operation is a very simple and safe one, that will leave a small scar under the fold of the breast tha only your most intimate friends will ever discover. The surgeon will insert a bag full of soft gel behind the muscle under the nipple, so that both breasts will b exactly the same size and feel.
Ask yout GP for a referral to a plastic surgeon (virtually all perform thi simple procedure), and discuss the matter further with him/her. A talk commit you to nothing, and will give you a great deal more information.

Question: I am 22 years old and my breasts are too large. They are quite saggy and I get rashes under them, and they cause me great discomfort. I would like to know who I can see about getting my breasts uplifted and decreased in size, the effects of the operation and how much it would cost.
Women with very large breasts can find them to be both uncomfortable and embarrassing. They develop fungal and heat rashes under the breast, and tired shoulder and back muscles from supporting them. They get in the way when Performing some tasks, and make the woman look fatter than she is. Many women gain enormous benefit by having a breast reduction operation per-formed, and the sooner such a procedure is undertaken, the better. There are a lot of plastic surgeons who perform this procedure, and you should discuss with your general practitioner who s/he recommends in your area.
There are a number of different ways of reducing the breast size, but in the most common operation, a slice of tissue and fat is removed from the underside of the breast, so that the resulting scar is in the fold under the breast, and barely noticeable. If nothing further was done, the nipple would be left pointing at the floor instead of straight ahead, so a further vertical cut must be made, to allow the nipple to be moved further up the smaller breast. The resultant vertical scar is below the nipple on an area of the breast that is rarely exposed to public view.
After the operation, you will feel much more comfortable, you will still be able to breast feed, and no one except your most intimate friends will ever know.
The costs involved in the operation will be partially refunded by Medicare (for the doctor’s fees) and your private health fund (for the hospital charges and part of the doctor’s fee). If you have no private insurance, you may have to pay $3000 to $4000. You should discuss this further at the initial consultation with the plastic surgeon, which will put you under no obligation to proceed further unless you wish to.