When a New Baby Brings a Problem No One Warns You About
Becoming a mother is one of the most demanding things a woman’s body goes through. For Sanjuna, an IT professional from Visakhapatnam, the first weeks after delivering her baby brought a challenge she hadn’t anticipated — and hadn’t been warned about. A mild size difference between her breasts, something she had lived with for three years without much trouble, had quietly transformed during delivery into something that stopped her from doing one of the most fundamental things a new mother hopes to do: feed her child.
“Once I delivered, the left one started growing much bigger, it was like 70% bigger than the right one and I couldn’t feed my baby which was like a biggest problem for me.”
Her gynecologist confirmed what Sanjuna had suspected. The nipple on the enlarged left breast wasn’t positioned outward — it had inverted — making it physically impossible for her baby to latch. The ability to breastfeed, something many mothers take for granted, had simply been taken off the table.
Two Bras, a Dupatta, and Two to Three Hours a Day
For the five to six months that followed, Sanjuna found a way to get through each day — but only just. Her left breast, now approximately 70% larger than her right, had been a mild anomaly for three years prior, sitting at around a 20% difference. Tests had come back normal; doctors had advised her to wait until after pregnancy before addressing it surgically. She had followed that advice. What none of them had anticipated was how dramatically childbirth would accelerate the asymmetry.
Now, with a newborn who needed to be fed, Sanjuna spent long stretches of every day managing a situation that had no simple fix.
“I had to sit for at least 2-3 hours everyday with the milk exporter and had to export the milk and feed her which was like very very problematic situation.”
Pumping was exhausting, but it was the only option. And managing the physical appearance of the asymmetry demanded its own daily ritual.
“I had to wear 2 bras just to have both of them in sync and I had to wear extra dupatta or shawl every time I had to go out or at least roam in the house.”
This was the texture of her days — physically demanding, emotionally wearing, and invisible to almost everyone around her. Being a mother was already its own significant challenge. Carrying this alongside it, for months, left a mark.
The Moment She Decided She Didn’t Have to Keep Carrying This
Sanjuna’s husband, himself a general physician, was the first person to gently but clearly tell her it was time to seek surgical advice. He was also one of the people who mentioned a specific name: Dr. Anjali Saple. Others echoed the recommendation.
But even with a trusted referral in hand, Sanjuna wasn’t sure what to expect when she walked into the clinic. The condition had taken a real toll.
“I was very low confident, I had a lot of mood swings and I wasn’t able to take it because this was never a situation for me earlier.”
She had been coping — wearing the extra layers, working through the pumping sessions, getting on with new motherhood — but emotionally, she was running on empty. She arrived at her consultation uncertain, not yet convinced that things could genuinely return to how they had been. What happened in that room changed her mind.
What Dr. Saple Did — and Why Sanjuna Said Yes
During her consultation with Dr. Anjali Saple at Divyam Aesthetic Clinic, something shifted. Sanjuna had come in with questions and uncertainty. What she encountered was a surgeon who listened carefully, assessed her situation, and spoke with a clarity that cut through months of worry.
“So she was very confident that my old age could come back. So just looking at her face, I had this motivational spark.”
That moment — the surgeon’s calm confidence that the condition was correctable, that Sanjuna’s body could be restored — was what moved Sanjuna from hesitation to decision. She agreed to proceed.
Dr. Saple performed a breast reduction surgery, surgically reducing the enlarged left breast to bring it into proportion with the right. The procedure was carried out under general anesthesia. Sanjuna was admitted, went through surgery, and was discharged within a single day. For someone who had spent five to six months dreading what lay ahead, the experience itself was almost anticlimactic in the best possible way.
No Dupatta. No Second Bra. Both Sides.
The change after surgery was immediate and concrete. Sanjuna no longer needed to layer herself before leaving the house. She no longer needed to build two to three hours of pumping into each day. She no longer needed to hold her daughter only on one side.
She could breastfeed on both sides now — something she hadn’t been able to do since the weeks after delivery.
Looking back, what stood out most wasn’t the surgery itself. It was the months before it.
“Even now when I look at the back days, like only pain I could see is the days that I had to hold these two things in place, not with the surgery.”
The symmetry was restored. The mood swings and low confidence that had become a quiet backdrop to her postpartum life lifted. She describes feeling, plainly, like herself again — the kind of straightforward recovery that only makes sense when you understand how much had been taken from her in the months prior.
Her Message to Other Mothers Who Are Quietly Struggling
Sanjuna’s final words aren’t directed at the camera — they’re directed at women who might be in the situation she was in. Struggling. Hiding it. Not sure where to turn or whether anything can actually be done.
“I just got discharged within a day, it was very quick and without even knowing it.”
The surgery she had feared was, in the end, the easier part of the entire experience. She encourages anyone dealing with something similar to come in, explain the situation, and let someone with the right expertise help them find a way forward. The months of managing alone don’t have to stretch on indefinitely. There is another side to it — and she got there.