Hormonal changes in your pregnancy can cause improved blood flow and some changes in your breast tissues.
This causes swelling in your breasts, soaring, tingling and abnormally sensitive to touch.
Breast changes during pregnancy is one of the early symptoms of pregnancy. Usually it begins around 4-6 weeks and continues throughout the first pregnancy trimester.
Breast changes during pregnancy:
Your breasts start increasing in its size at about 8 weeks of your pregnancy and sometimes this continues to dev
elop throughout your pregnancy. Most commonly, your cup size increases to one or two.
As the skin start stretching, you will feel itchiness and sometimes there is a possibility to develop stretch marks.
If you are first time pregnant, then you may feel itchiness at your breasts and you may notice that your nipple become darker and bigger. After passing few months, the pigmented circles around the nipples will become bigger and darker.
During your 3rd month pregnancy, the breast milk called colostrum start producing which your baby will receive once after the birth. In last months of your pregnancy, your breasts will leak a little amount of thick yellowish liquid.
As the due date comes closer the colostrums becomes pale and colorless. This is not essential for all women; in some, leakage starts earlier and in some others there is no leakage. The discharge may occur at any time such as while massaging your breasts or when you are sexually stimulated.
The nipples will stick out more; the nipples and areolas will become larger. The small glands on the surface of the aerosol called as Montgomery’s tubercles become raised bumps.
Dealing with breast changes during pregnancy:
Some women will be very much excited about their breasts becoming larger while for some others who have larger breasts may feel less enthusiastic.
Buy a good supporting bra. If there is a large increase in your breast sizes, you can wear a cotton supportive sports bra for night.
Features you need to look while buying a bra:
- Buy a bra with broad shoulder straps.
- It should have deep band under the cups.
- Don’t buy underwire bras.
- Bra must give good support.
- Prefer back-fastening bras as they give you more flexibility while adjusting.
The hormones produced during the pregnancy will help in developing your breasts for lactation. The milk ducts grows and they become stretched as they filled with milk during your early pregnancy. All these changes can cause your breasts to become more sensitive, especially the nipples.
Breast cancer during your pregnancy:
The symptoms of breast cancer are same as the breast changes during pregnancy. So, it is difficult to recognize the condition. The breasts are increasing in size, are warm and for most of the times it may be lumpy because of all the arrangements for the baby.
So, it is essential to check your breasts in your pregnancy for every 4-5 weeks. If you find any clogged milk ducts during your pregnancy, gentle massage or warm compression will help in clearing the duct in a few days.
If you are not sure about any lumps, visit your doctor. But, remember the thing that breast cancer is a rare condition in women aged more than 35 years.
The women who are planning for pregnancy after 35 years must ask your doctor about mammogram before becoming pregnant. So, you can avoid severe breast changes during pregnancy.
Most of the women will get their breasts to the previous size or sometimes in smaller size. This is a perfectly normal condition and is one of the most common effects of pregnancy but not because of breastfeeding.
