When Should I Stop Breastfeeding Before Having A Brazilian Butt Lift?

Q: Hi, I have two babies born via c-sections. Is it safe to have a Brazilian butt lift even though I have had these c-sections? My youngest baby is 5 months old and I am still breastfeeding. Should I  I stop breastfeeding before surgery? How long in advance should I stop my breastfeeding before having the surgery? Thank you.

A: The Brazilian Butt Lift, a bit of a misnomer but this is how the procedure has been branded, is buttock augmentation with fat injections. It has gotten this branded name because it was developed and popularized in South America where the aesthetics of the buttocks is highly regarded. It ‘lifts’ the buttocks per se by adding fat volume, not by cutting and lifting tissues in the traditional sense. Having c-sections on the abdomen does not in any way interfere with having this buttock procedure and one does not affect the other. Fat may be taken from the stomach area to be transferred to the buttocks but a c-section does not interfere with that process.

Breastfeeding, however, is a different matter. There is no reason to be having elective plastic surgery while one is still breastfeeding. There is a very remote chance of drugs from surgery passing through to the infant through the breast milk. Once none of these drugs are likely harmful to the infant, why take any chance even as remote as that possibility is. One should stop breastfeeding at least one month prior to any elective surgery. In addition, you really want your body totally focused on healing from the surgery and not having its energies split between healing and producing breast milk.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis, Indiana