While pregnancy, delivery, and breastfeeding are nothing less than miracles, it also changes your body dramatically. Among others, one area you will visibly notice is the difference in your breasts. During pregnancy and delivery, your breasts undergo changes. Saggy breasts after delivery are a common problem faced by many mothers. It is important to understand why this happens and what you can do to reverse it by following these top 10 exercises for saggy breasts after delivery.
There are many reasons for breasts sagging after delivery. They might have become bigger, swollen, and engorged with milk. Soon after you stop breastfeeding (and sometimes even before that) you will notice that your breasts are sagging. Sagging breasts during pregnancy is a common issue.
In This Article
- Why do Breasts Sag After Having a Baby?
- How Can I Regain Shape And Firmness of The Breasts After Delivery?
- Top 10 Exercises For Saggy Breasts After Delivery
- FAQ’s
Why do Breasts Sag After Having a Baby?
When you are breastfeeding your little one, the milk ducts inside your breasts are full and there is a constant flow of milk in them. This will stretch the overall breast tissue and skin. However, once you stop breastfeeding your child, then all the milk ducts shrink to their original pre-pregnancy size, leaving the breast empty and the skin around it “loose” and saggy. Age is also responsible for reducing the firmness of the breasts (1).
[Read: Effective Tips To Tighten Skin After Pregnancy]
How Can I Regain The Shape And Firmness of The Breasts After Delivery?
Having firm and properly shaped breasts is important to every woman. While saggy breasts are partly genetic, their occurrence can be lessened with a healthy diet and disciplined exercise during your pregnancy – both of which will limit the weight you gain (2).
Further, here are some to-dos you may consider.
1. Wearing The Right Bra
Wearing a wrong-sized bra can be uncomfortable and could pressurize the breast skin. This can irritate the skin and might not provide adequate support. However, the right-sized bra will support your breasts while performing daily activities (3).
2. Moisturizing Skin
Besides wearing the right lingerie, it’s crucial to moisturize the breast skin to keep dryness at bay. Moisturizing helps improve collagen and elastin synthesis. This keeps the breast tight while reducing sagginess.
3. Applying Hot And Cold Compressors
Applying hot and cold compressors alternatively, increases blood circulation. This tones and rejuvenates breast skin. Hot compressors enhance tissue’s texture and elasticity. Contrastingly, cold compressors decrease swelling and increase tightness (4).
Top 10 Exercises For Saggy Breasts After Delivery
Here is a list of the top 7 exercises for saggy breasts after delivery that can help you to get that earlier size back!
1. Push-Ups
This is a great exercise for firming up not just your breasts, but also your entire chest muscles, back, and core. Another advantage is that it can be done in the privacy of your home without any special equipment.
Process:
- Lie on your stomach on the floor or preferably on a yoga mat.
- Keep your palms closer to your armpits, slightly away from the shoulders.
- Pull yourself up into a plank with the help of your arms. While your arms are straight, there should be a slight bend at the elbow to avoid injury.
- Feel your entire core tense.
- Slowly lower your chest to the floor, aiming to bring your face parallel to the ground, in between your palms. Push yourself up again.
- Repeat as many times as you can.
- If you find doing this on full plank difficult, you can keep both knees on the ground in the initial weeks.
2. Wall Press
This is a much simpler exercise that does not require any special equipment. This helps strengthen the pectoral muscles which in turn support the breasts (5).
Process:
- Stand tall facing a wall.
- Now keep both your palms on the wall in front of your shoulders.
- Lean onto the wall, applying as much pressure as possible with your hands.
- Do this for 10-15 seconds. Then relax.
- Repeat 10 times.
3. Arm Raise
This is the third and last exercise on this list, which can be done at home without the use of gym equipment. You need not count this one as an “exercise” as it involves more stretching. You can do it any number of times, throughout the day.
Process:
- Stand tall. Extend your arms above your head.
- Join the palms.
- Now stretch upwards as much as possible, stretching your entire body.
- Stay this way for 20 seconds and relax.
- Repeat the same 15 times.
4. Bench Press
This is a great exercise to strengthen your pectoral muscles, which support the breasts, and hence will result in lifting your breasts slightly (6). However, this demands a trip to the gym as it requires a bench and a pair of dumbbells.
Process:
- Lie on your back on the bench.
- Hold one dumbbell each on either of your hands and raises them straight above your chest. Hold this position.
- Then bring them down until they are close to either side of your chest.
- Raise them back to the starting position, hold and lower them.
- Repeat 10-15 times.
5. Incline Bench Press
This adds more resistance to the normal bench press mentioned above.
Process:
- Adjust the angle of the bench press to 15º to 30º.
- Sit on it with your feet on the floor.
- In the bench press, raise your hands straight above the shoulders with dumbbells, hold and then lower. Press it outward again.
- Repeat this 10-15 times.
6. Dumbbell Fly
This is one of the best exercises to firm up saggy breasts.
Process:
- Lie on your back, preferably on a yoga mat.
- You can keep your knees either bent or straight, depending on your comfort.
- Hold one dumbbell in each arm.
- Keep your arms spread on either side of the body, maintaining a slight bend at the elbow.
- Now raise your arms from the sides to above your shoulders.
Hold the position. - Now lower your arms to the side of your body again.
- You can increase the resistance by not touching your hands on the floor while you lower them and by keeping them a few inches above the ground.
7. Chest Fly
This mainly works your shoulder muscles, but it also impacts your chest muscles indirectly.
Process:
- Sit straight with your legs crossing each other. Alternatively, you can also stand straight.
- Hold one dumbbell on both arms.
- Now raise the arms with dumbbells on either side of your body, bending the elbow at the right ankle, with your palms facing forward. This is your first position.
- Now bring your elbows and palms together to the front of your face, while not changing the 90º angle at the elbow. This is your second position.
- Alternate these two positions for 10-15 times.
8. Cobra Pose
Cobra pose is a great exercise to strengthen your chest muscles. It increases the blood flow in the upper body.
Process:
- Begin by lying down on your stomach facing the ground.
- Keep your legs hip-width apart and extend your arms on the floor.
- Then, flex your arms, push the floor, and lift your chest.
- Simultaneously, extend your neck, facing the ceiling.
- Hold this position for 30 seconds and release it. Do 10 to 15 repitions.
9. Superman Pose
This pose is an advanced version of the cobra pose. It tones your back, chest, and abdominal muscles.
Process:
- Lie flat on your stomach while placing your head and hands above.
- Keep your legs close, touching your feet.
- Stretch your arms, chest, and legs.
- Feel the stretch for 10 seconds and repeat for 5 to 10 times.
10. Bow Pose
This pose stretches your complete body in a go.
Process:
- Lie flat on the stomach, keeping your knees hip-width apart.
- Outstretch your hands and bend your knees.
- Hold your ankles with your hands and lift your heels upwards.
- Maintain the position for 5 seconds and return to the normal position. Do it 4 to 5 times.
While you need to try exercising and eating healthy to lose the postpartum weight and get those saggy breasts back in shape, don’t forget to embrace the changes as a part of your motherhood. The above exercises for saggy breasts after delivery will aid you in managing the condition well easily.
FAQ’s
1. Can Exercises Help Lift up Breasts After Delivery?
Yes, to an extent. Exercising the breast muscles can help strengthen them. This can make them lift up and look firm.
2. How Can I Combat Saggy Breasts After Breast Feeding?
If it is genetic, there isn’t much you can do. Wearing the right bra can help reduce the sag. Exercises like push-ups and arm raises can help lift up breasts.
3. Can I Lift Weights to Improve Saggy Breasts After Delivery?
Yes, you can, lifting weights can strengthen muscles effectively. Dumbbell fly is one of the best exercises for saggy breasts.
4. Can I do Anything Instead of Push-Ups to Improve Saggy Breasts?
Not all women can do push-ups. It requires a lot of upper body strength. Do a wall press or bench press instead.
5. What is The Fastest Way to Tighten Saggy Breasts?
Saggy breasts after pregnancy are common. However, to manage the condition, you may upgrade your diet and exercise routine. Further, you can try massaging your breasts and wearing appropriate bras.
References
- Breastfeeding and perceived changes in the appearance of the breasts: a retrospective study – Pisacane – 2004 – Acta Paediatrica – Wiley Online Library – [https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1651-2227.2004.tb02935.x]
- Experiences regarding nutrition and exercise among women during early postpartum: a qualitative grounded theory study | BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth – [https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12884-019-2508-z]
- Comparative Morphological Evaluation of Young Women’s Breast-Bra Reshaping by Different Bra Cups – PMC – [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10002063/]
- Objective assessment of skin tightening in Asians using a water-filtered near-infrared (1,000–1,800 nm) device with contact-cooling and freezer-stored gel – PMC – [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3699058/]
- Effect of the push-up exercise at different palmar width on muscle activities – PMC – [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4792988/]
- Analysis of Muscle Activity Utilizing Bench Presses in the AnyBody Simulation Modelling System – [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/302982672_Analysis_of_Muscle_Activity_Utilizing_Bench_Presses_in_the_AnyBody_Simulation_Modelling_System]
