Pregnancy and Breastfeeding with Implants

Women with breast implants are encouraged to breast feed their children by many leading medical and parenting organizations.

While breastfeeding with implants may be more difficult for some women, it is possible, and most doctors tell their patients that it is safe. However, many women do not know that breastfeeding with implants has not been thoroughly studied. In fact, the FDA Consumer Handbook discusses the Institute of Medicine’s findings and says, “it is not known what effect breast implants may have on an unborn baby (fetus) and the nursing infant.”

There are many mothers who believe that their children have grown ill from pregnancy or breastfeeding with implants. They have two concerns: that the implants might make their milk unsafe, and that during pregnancy the silicone and other chemicals from the implant may affect the health of their babies.

The FDA Consumer Handbook gives women a mixed message. On the one hand, it says that studies by the IOM have found no evidence that babies breastfed by mothers with implants have higher levels of silicon than infants fed by women without implants. (Silicon is one element in the polymer silicone to which everyone is exposed, the FDA says.)

On the other hand, the FDA adds that the IOM found its information to be “insufficient or flawed” regarding the “potential damaging effects on children born of mothers with implants”. In Fact, the FDA states that there is no known method for detecting silicone levels in breast milk. This is significant because some argue that silicone (found in most breast implants), not silicon, may be a safety concern. Others argue that silicone, found in all sorts of everyday products, is harmless.

For a new mother with breast implants this makes their decision to breast feed a confusing one.
ABSOLUTELY SAFE character Deneé says her doctor told her she can breastfeed as long as her nipples are in good condition. But she is not sure whether she will breastfeed. Deneé does have concerns about the silicone shell of her saline implant. “You definitely don’t want that to fall back on you one day that your kids aren’t healthy because of the decision you made,” she says.

Leading medical, pediatric, and parenting organizations argue that the benefits of breastfeeding far outweigh any potential risk caused by implants. They turn to existing studies and state that there is no evidence suggesting otherwise.

American Academy of Pediatrics

Food and Drug Administration

La Leche League International

National Research Center for Women & Families

• Return to the Absolutely Safe film info page.