When to Stop Nursing to Have Mommy Makeover?

Although it depends on individuals, individuals, I advise you to wait minimum of six months after childbirth and breastfeeding to undergo any breast surgeries.

Thank you for your question. I usually recommend that my patients wait at least six months after completely stopping breastfeeding before undergoing a Mommy Makeover. This allows your body time to settle into a stable weight. As far as traveling from NY to Orlando for surgery, I don’t recommend it. You would need to stay in Orlando for at least two weeks post-surgery to recover enough to travel back home, and if you encountered complications later, you would need to return to your surgeon in Orlando for treatment. And while some surgeons will do a virtual consultation, a Mommy Makeover is a significant procedure - one that absolutely needs to involve an in-person consultation. I recommend that you find a board certified plastic surgeon in your area who is experienced in Mommy Makeover procedures. In the long run, the results will be worth it. Best, Dr. Verbin

My short answer is that I would wait a minimum of 3 or more months from when your breasts stop shrinking AND following cessation of breast feeding.

You would need to wait at least three months before having any type of breast surgery.  You need to allow your breast shape and size to make their final change.  Most surgeons will do phone consultations as long as you send photos.

Pregnancy is responsible for multiple changes in a woman’s body. During pregnancy, the breasts increase in size, and this continues with breast feeding. After breast feeding is complete, the breasts shrink and lose volume. This often results in the development of significant breast sag as well.
Correction of this problem often requires breast augmentation in combination with breast lift surgery. This can be done in combination with abdominoplasty as well. It typically requires 3 to 6 months for the breast to stabilize following the cessation of lactation. At this point, it’s reasonable to proceed with Mommy Make-Over surgery.
Although virtual consultation is possible, I prefer to evaluate patients in person so I can perform a physical examination. Utilizing this approach, patient satisfaction is usually excellent.

You should stop breastfeeding for at least 3 months prior to considering cosmetic breast surgery.  This applies whether you are planning to have breast implants and/or a breast lift.  Some women may need a longer time period to allow their breast to stop secreting milk/fluid.

Discuss this in further detail prior to your planned mommy makover procedure.

Best wishes,

Dr. Bruno

There are a few questions within your question, so let's talk about the travel aspect first. High prices in New York are a motivation for some to travel elsewhere, particularly if they have a friend or family member to stay with and recommend a good plastic surgeon in the community. However, scheduling a major procedure such as the mommy makeover with a surgeon you haven't met personally is not the best idea. Also, the travel after this type of surgery may increase the risk of blood clots, so you shouldn't rush the return home.
As for breastfeeding, a 3-month minimum is the usual recommendation before breast surgery.

The breast and abdominal surgery are usual after pregnancy. My question is what is the etc. The distance between NY and Florida is small enough that I do not see this increasing the risk of any problems. Flying from India to Florida or vise versa is quite different because the long flight time increases the risk of clots forming in the deep leg veins and their moving up into the lungs.
I prefer to wait at least 6months after stabilization of weight loss/after delivery for the abominoplasty so that I am sure that I am working on a patient with a stable baseline weight, skin laxity etc. For breasts I prefer to wait 1 year after breast feeding has stopped to make sure the breast milk making maching is turned off. If you do any surgery prior to that the surgery can stimulate the breast to make even more milk and implants or scar tissue can prevent some of the milk from coming out through the nipple. Breast milk filled cysts or leakage of milk through skin incisions is not fun for the doctor or the patient.

I generally say 3-6 months, but it really depends on when the breast return to baseline and when the lactation stops. Secondly, I am a bit concerned about patients who travel to other cities to have large surgeries, like the one you describe. The problem is that the rate of blood clots, DVT, goes up.
Also other issue to consider, with such a big surgery, what happens if you have complications from it, would you fly back and forth on a weekly or biweekly manner to see your surgeon?
You have to consider all these things prior to having surgery performed outside of your home state. Some patients need to do this as there many not be adequate plastic surgeons in their state.
Also, a virtual consultation is not adequate for such big surgery and in most cases I dont think that it is adequate period.
Good luck.

Hi there-
You really raise several questions. With regard to breast feeding, I do think that waiting 3-6 months after ceasing is important, as it allows the breasts to return to a more normal state before surgery.
It would be important for you to check with your EVLT doctor before air travel, to be sure this will not complicate your outcome or increase your risk of problems with blood clots in your legs or lungs... Equally important would be the concern for these risks around the time of your mommy makeover- so approval of your desired timeline by your EVLT surgeon would be important for this reason as well.
With regard to how best to achieve the necessary communication with your surgeon, I do not think that "virtual" consultations are responsible medicine. Sometimes you can get a reasonable understanding of a patient's goals and may even be able to offer options for their achievement after reviewing the patient's appearance in photos (as we sometimes do on this site), but to really understand and make responsible recommendations an in-person visit is necessary.
When we have patients come to us from abroad or from other areas of the US, we usually try to coordinate the consult and surgery with the after care visits so that the patient receives simultaneously responsible and safe surgical care that is as convenient as possible- but the in-person consult is very important.
I hope that helps you.