Lopsided Breasts

If you don’t have breasts that are even slightly different in size and shape, whether pregnant or not, big breasts or not, nursing or not, despite never having cosmetic breast surgery then congratulations, you are a rare the exception to the norm. But as for the rest of us….

What are we supposed to do? Well for one thing, we can quit being such perfectionists, and realize that we are in good company! Seriously, though, humans are not actually symmetrical on both sides, whether we examine our nose or our toes. That is partly why there are so many beautiful individual faces, despite there being so many humans on the globe. Your boobs are just one more thing that set you apart as unique.

Other than that, we can clearly see that boobs change as we go through pregnancy and nursing. This is a time to take advantage of the changes and either work on balancing the look of our breasts, or going with the flow, and embracing their uniqueness.

Some confidant moms even dare nurse on just one side. It can even be a cultural norm to do that in some places.

For the remaining picky perfectionists like myself, there are a few things we can obsess over – er, I mean use to our advantage. During the first few weeks after birth, the breasts are flooded with growth hormones and there is a window of opportunity we can take advantage of, to try to even things up a bit.

First of all – and even women with symmetrical breasts should try to do this – keep track of how much nursing is happening on each side. You don’t have nurse on each side equally at every feeding, but you don’t want to starting feeding your baby on one side more than the other (in general) unless you are trying to enhance that breast – or you just don’t care what size your breasts end up becoming.

Second, keep in mind that this window of size changing opportunity is a limited one. Once your breasts stop getting the strong postpartum hormonal signals, they start running mostly on “autopilot” and generally won’t grow any more except during your baby’s growth spurts, so take advantage of your golden opportunity, and keep regular track of the size of your breasts during this time.

Third, don’t compare “the girls” unless they are both empty, or both equally full, for the most accurate assessment of their true size.

Fourth, keep an extra nursing pad or two for times when one breast is noticeably bigger looking than the other. The extra padding on the small side is a good way to reduce your self-consciousness when you are out and about. A good nursing bra should adjust for a cup-or-two size difference anyway, since breasts constantly expand and shrink throughout pregnancy and nursing.

Finally, just remember, you’re a normal human being, so your breasts are bound to be a little lopsided sometimes. You’ll probably find a shoulder to cry on from another normal human mother when you just can’t stand it anymore! We’ve all been there before.