January, 1996 issue of the Journal Obstetrics & Gynecology.

Women with breast implants may have trouble breast-feeding their infants, according to a new report.

In a study of 84 new mothers at a Texas hospital, 64 percent of those with breast implants had problems producing enough milk to feed their infants, while only 7 percent of women without implants had such problems.

Among women with implants, the type of surgery they had also predicted whether they had problems with breast-feeding: women who had an incision made around their nipple were more likely to have problems producing milk than women who had an incision in the armpit or below the breast, according to the study, published in the January issue of the journal

Obstetrics & Gynecology.

Breast surgery most likely disrupts the nerves that are important for successful breast-feeding, according to study author Nancy Hurst, director of the lactation program and the human milk bank at Texas Children's Hospital in Houston.

"Normally when the baby begins to suckle, it triggers those nerves to trigger hormones to release milk," she said. If the nerves are severed, the volume of milk to the child may be reduced, according to the Texas nurse.

An incision around the nipple, which is done to help make the scar less noticeable, also may sever ducts that drain milk from the mammary gland, according to Dr. Marianne Neifert, a medical consultant to the lactation program at Presbyterian/St. Luke's Medical Center in Denver.

So even if the mother has an adequate milk supply, it may be difficult for the milk to drain into the nipple, Neifert said. Eventually, that area of the breast will shut down and stop producing milk, she added.