Hypoplasia And Breastfeeding | Insufficient Glandular Breast Tissue

If you’ve had your heart set on exclusively breastfeeding, not being able to make a full breast milk supply for your baby can be heartbreaking.

The inability to produce enough breast milk is often referred to as primary lactation failure or lactation insufficiency.

Boosting milk production in breastfeeding mothers can often be a matter of correct management. For some mothers, however, poor breastfeeding management is not the reason they are not able to produce a full breast milk supply.

There are other causes of insufficient milk production; one is that a mother does not have enough milk making tissue within her breasts.

This condition is called insufficient glandular tissue (IGT) or hypoplasia.

Insufficient Glandular Tissue (IGT) or breast hypoplasia

Primary lactation failure can occur as a result of various factors. Some of these might include hormonal problems, which cause insufficient breast growth or might accompany polycystic ovarian syndrome, or previous breast surgery.

Breast augmentation surgery doesn’t necessarily cause low milk production; breast implants, however, could mask symptoms of breast hypoplasia (also referred to as insufficient glandular tissue or IGT).

For some mothers, IGT can mean that breast milk production is not possible at all. For other mothers, it might mean that they are able produce some breast milk, but cannot establish a full milk supply.

Here are 3 common questions, and answers, about IGT.

#1: How do you know if you have IGT?

The milk making tissue in a woman’s breasts is called glandular tissue. Hypoplastic breasts are breasts with insufficient glandular tissue. It’s the fatty tissue inside a woman’s breasts that determine breast size, so hypoplastic breasts might be small or large. It’s the breast shape, placement, and asymmetry, as opposed to breast size, that can suggest hypoplasia.

Some common characteristics of hypoplastic breasts include:

• Widely spaced breasts (breasts are more than 4 cm or 1.5 inches apart)
• Breast asymmetry (one breast is much larger than the other)
• A lack of breast changes during puberty, pregnancy, or after giving birth
• Tuberous breast deformity (the breasts have a narrow base and their volume is long rather than round
• Overly large and bulbous areolae.

It’s important to note that some mothers with one or more of the above physical signs have no problems achieving a full milk supply. Similarly, it is possible for a woman with normal sized breasts to have insufficient glandular tissue.

However, if a prenatal breast assessment reveals physical characteristics consistent with IGT, it should prompt the need for extra attention, so as to get breastfeeding off to the best possible start.

If you would like more information about this, BellyBelly’s article How To Get Ready For Breastfeeding While Pregnant has some helpful tips.

#2: What causes IGT?

Insufficient glandular tissue occurs when the breast does not develop as expected at key stages of development, such as in utero, throughout puberty, or during pregnancy. More research is needed into what might cause these variations in normal development.

There is some research suggesting that exposure to high levels of environmental contaminants might increase the risk of IGT.

Also, hormonal problems associated with endocrine-related conditions (such as polycystic ovarian syndrome, uncontrolled thyroid, or insulin-related conditions) can affect breast growth during puberty or pregnancy and the process of milk coming in. As a result, such conditions could be implicated in IGT.

#3: Can I still breastfeed if I have IGT?

A diagnosis of IGT doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t breastfeed.

There is no way of telling exactly how much milk a woman with IGT will be able to produce for her baby. Because IGT is associated with low milk supply, it’s a good idea to make a plan, before your baby is born, for maximizing your breast milk supply.

You might find it helpful to speak with your doctor and/or lactation consultant about taking a galactagogue (a substance used to increase breast milk supply). One of these is domperidone.

You can read more about domperidone in BellyBelly’s article Motilium (Domperidone) For Breastfeeding – 5 FAQs.

For information about natural galactagogues, you might like to read Mother Food, written by holistic lactation consultant, Hilary Jacobson.

#4: Will I need to supplement my baby’s feeds?

With insufficient glandular tissue, it’s likely you will not produce enough milk to breastfeed your baby exclusively. If your baby needs to be supplemented, there are many options.

You can even offer your baby supplemental feedings at the same time as breastfeeding.

A supplemental nursing system (SNS) is a device that consists of a bottle and a thin piece of tubing that is inserted into the side of the baby’s mouth while she is breastfeeding. The bottle can be filled with a supplemental formula feed, expressed breast milk from the breastfeeding mother or human milk from other breastfeeding mothers (i.e. breast milk from a milk donor).

For more information about this, you can read BellyBelly’s article Breastfeeding Supplementer | What Is It And How Does It Help?

To source donor milk, you can join informal milk sharing groups, such as Human Milk For Human Babies.

What’s important is to work out which method works best for you. For some mothers, this means bottle feeding their babies. For other mothers, a breastfeeding supplementer can help them have fulfilling breastfeeding experiences with their babies, even if they cannot make a full breast milk supply.

Regardless of how you choose to supplement your baby, there are ways you can do so while reducing the impact on breastfeeding, if that’s important for you.

BellyBelly’s article, 6 Different Ways To Feed Your Baby Expressed Breastmilk (Or Formula) provides information about options for supplement delivery.

#5: Will IGT affect breast milk production for all of my babies?

Lots of mothers report they found breastfeeding easier the second or third time around. This could come down to experience but what’s also interesting to learn is that, with each additional pregnancy, more glandular tissue in made in the breasts.

If you are interested in learning more about this, you can read The Breastfeeding Mother’s Guide to Making More Milk, written by two experts in lactation, Lisa Marasco and Diana West.

If you have IGT, or think you might have, it can help to talk about your breastfeeding goals with an Australian Breastfeeding Association counselor, a La Leche League Leader, or a lactation consultant. That way, you can make a plan to suit your own unique needs and situation.

It’s also helpful to have a lactation consultant check your baby’s oral anatomy, to make sure there isn’t anything else (such as a tongue tie) that could be causing breastfeeding difficulties.