I am beyond devastated. I am going to have to stop BF my daughter, although I refuse to stop before she's a year old. I had hoped to BF until self weaning and she loves her booby, so it's going to be hard on her too.

I have PIP breast implants (the ones in the news with the non medical grade silicone) and one has ruptured. It's caused serious damage to my breast tissue and I have silicone in my lymph nodes. I have seen a specialist breast/breast reconstructive surgeon who has said that the ruptured implant has damaged my breast tissue so badly that I almost certainly will not be able to BF from that side after surgery to remove it. Because of the extent of the surgery I will need, there is also higher risk to me during the operation.

The longer I leave the implants in, the higher the risk to my health and the higher the risk of something going wrong with the intact implant, which might mean I couldn't BF at all in the future.

I have been/am very tempted to just continue to BF anyway regardless, but it's silly to risk my own health. I know in the scheme of things a year is great going, but I feel like I've lost something and I am not sure I will even have another baby so I may not get to BF again.

I suppose I just wanted ot get it out really.

well done for bf-ing for 9 months x

I hope the surgery goes well and have a speedy recovery

Is there definitely no way of continuing after the op? Even on one side?

So sorry this is happening to you hun. I can't imagine how you must be feeling. You've got to consider your own health, though. It's more important for LO to grow up with her mom around, than to be BF for another couple of months but end up losing you.

I hope there's a happier outcome to this than total weaning, if you really want to continue. However, what you've already achieved is fab, and so much more than many babies get. If you get to 12 months (and even if you stop at 9) you've seen her through the foundation of her early childhood. She'll benefit from it for her whole life

so sorry hun but you have done amazingly well x x

Sorry to hear this, just wanted to say well done for getting to 9 months at least!! Hope the op goes well xxx

Please don't feel bad, it is for serious medical reasons, also don't haunt yourself with 'what if?' scenarios, as we never know what will happen on the future. While not entirely the same situation my friend had a serious abscess while BF her first child and was told that she would physically be unable to Bf again in the future due to that and severe nipple damage, she was sad as she wasn't really planning any more kids either but not only did that situation change, she also tried BF her other daughter from the get go and she had no issues whatsoever xx

In the future, not on, silly phone! Xx

Thanks for the replies.

Patch, sadly due to the length of time between me stopping BF and having the op (there needs to be a 3 month gap) I don't think it will be possible to resume BF afterwards.

I think I am going to get further advice and seek a second and third opinion. The IBCLC at my local hospital has experience of women with implants and BF and I wonder if she will know of a surgeon who may be more sympathetic to BF, as I do feel the the surgeon I saw wasn't very understand of or knowledgable about BF and therefore may not have been as accomodating as he could have been due to this.

My original preference was to just get the ruptured implant out (would leave me very lopsided, but hey, one boob is better than none... ) and then later on when I have finished BF get the other removed and get myself properly sorted out, either an uplift or new implants. I'm going to see if I can find a surgeon to do this and also explore the option of leaving the implant in but having regular scans to assess what is happening there.

Good luck! Xx

Fingers crossed you manage to find a solution that you're totally happy with good luck with everything!