Breast Changes Early Pregnancy and Beyond

Did you know that you experience breast changes with pregnancy? Let’s go over breast changes early pregnancy, breast lumps, and possible breast problems after birth!

Breasts are made up of lobules (milk-producing glands) and ducts (tubes that carry milk to the nipple). These are surrounded by glandular, fibrous, and fatty tissue. This tissue gives breasts their size and shape.

In your lobules is where the blood from your blood vessels is made into your breastmilk. Yes, breastmilk is a blood product!

The darker area of skin around the nipple is called the areola.

On the areola there are some small, raised bumps called Montgomery glands, which produce fluid to moisturize the nipple.

What Breast Changes Occur During Pregnancy?

Breast changes occur early in pregnancy to prepare for breastfeeding.

Around 6-8 weeks of pregnancy, your breasts will get bigger and continue to grow throughout your pregnancy due to more breast tissues developing that are needed to support breastfeeding.

Further, you may even begin leaking colostrum around week 16 or later. However, whether you leak or not, this is not a predictor of what your milk supply will be like.

Breast changes in pregnancy are caused by an increase in hormones and lead to the following:

Breast tenderness
Increasing breast size
Changes in the color and size of your nipples and areola
Bigger and more noticeable Montgomery glands

In the last few weeks of pregnancy, your nipples will likely become larger and your breasts will continue to grow as the milk-producing cells get bigger.

How to Support Your Breast Changes Early Pregnancy and Beyond

Your breasts may feel uncomfortable and sometimes painful. Wearing a supportive (but not tight!) bra may help relieve any pain or discomfort. It’s also fine to sleep in a bra if it’s more comfortable for you.

I would recommend avoiding bras with an underwire and reaching for comfortable nursing bras during pregnancy.

This two-pack of soft and supportive nursing bras is a good go-to for a decent price! There are cheaper bundles on Amazon, but they are less comfortable.

Another brand for cozy nursing bras (but is more expensive than the one linked) is Love and Fit!

Breast Lumps in Pregnancy

Breast lumps can develop during pregnancy. The most common ones include:

Cysts: fluid-filled sacs
Galactoceles: milk-filled cysts
Fibroadenomas: which develop in the lobules of the breast

Each of these are benign (not cancerous) breast conditions.

Breast cancer during pregnancy is uncommon. However, if you notice a new breast lump or any changes to an existing breast lump, contact your midwife or OB-GYN.

Breast Changes After Birth

For the first few days after giving birth, you will be producing and nursing your baby with colostrum. A thick breast milk that is rich in:

Vitamins
Minerals
Antibodies: infection fighters
Peptides: antibacterial and antiviral components
Growth hormones: help repair damaged cells
Healthy bacteria, including white blood cells: establishes the proper balance of healthy bacteria in your baby’s digestive tract which can provide them with long-term gut health benefits and optimal immune system development.

Further, colostrum is produced in small amounts, perfectly made for your baby’s tiny stomach.

The second stage of breast milk:

The second stage of breast milk typically comes in around days 2-3 and lasts until days 10-14.

Your breasts will feel fuller and firmer, and your breast milk will be yellowish-white at this stage because it contains a mixture of colostrum and your mature white-colored breast milk!

mature breast milk:

The third and final stage of breast milk comes in around days 10-14 postpartum when your milk supply has been maintained with frequent nipple stimulation (such as breastfeeding, pumping, and/or hand expressing), and then it will remain until weaning.

By the time your baby is 4 weeks old, your breastmilk will be fully mature!

This blueish-white milk contains more calories than transitional milk, and the volume you’re producing increases substantially.

Beyond 4 weeks, the nutritional content of your breastmilk will remain consistent, but the composition of your milk still changes from day to day and even feed to feed to meet exactly what your baby needs at each moment!

Possible Breast Problems After Birth

When producing breast milk, if there is a bad latch, poor positioning, or inadequate feeding or pumping sessions, this can lead to unpleasant breast problems. These issues can include:

Sore and cracked nipples
Engorgement
Clogged ducts
Mastitis
Breast abscess
Thrush

I go over everything you need to know about latch, positioning, nursing and pumping (with various schedules if needed), engorgement, mastitis, breast abscesses, thrush, and other breastfeeding hurdles, how-tos, and more in The Balanced Breastfeeding Course.

Sore and cracked nipples

If there is a bad latch and/or poor positioning while nursing, this will lead to sore, cracked, and sometimes bleeding nipples.

The answer for this is not the top-rated nipple cream. Nipple cream is beneficial as the root cause of the issue is being resolved.

Fixing the root cause of sore and cracked nipples will take learning from a family member who breastfed for a long time, contacting a lactation consultant, or using The Balanced Breastfeeding Course.

Engorgement

Engorgement is when your breasts are uncomfortably or painfully full of fluids.

You may think your engorged breasts are only full of breastmilk, but that isn’t the only factor; an increase in blood flow and lymph is common in the early days and even weeks of breastfeeding.

Plus, there can be excess fluids making your engorgement worse if you had a lot of IV fluids in labor. This is very common if you had an induction.

Engorgement may occur at 2-4 days postpartum, or a few weeks into breastfeeding if there are unresolved breastfeeding/pumping issues.

Without effective treatment, engorgement can lead to mastitis with flu-like symptoms.

In The Balanced Breastfeeding Course I provide you with a plethora of the best techniques for manually getting rid of the excess fluids and supporting your baby’s ability to latch on excessively swollen/engorged breasts.

Clogged milk ducts

Within the first year of breastfeeding, about 5% of nursing mothers experience clogged ducts, which, left untreated, can lead to painful mastitis.

A clogged duct is a blockage of hardened breastmilk caused by inflammation of the milk ducts, making it difficult for milk to pass through that specific duct.

Clogged ducts are characterized by a hard, often painful area on the breast that is warm to the touch and swollen with milk because of temporarily poor milk drainage.

Check out how to Prevent Clogged Ducts with These 5 Tips!

Mastitis

When a clogged duct or engorgement is left untreated or not treated soon enough, it can become mastitis. This is most common to occur during the first 6-12 weeks of breastfeeding, but it can happen any time you are lactating.

Mastitis is characterized by feeling ill with flu-like symptoms and having a painful, hard, and reddened area on your breast.

Again, like engorgement (and all of the other breastfeeding topics you could think of!), The Balanced Breastfeeding Course has a plethora of the best techniques for manually getting rid of the excess fluids and supporting your baby’s ability to latch on excessively swollen/engorged breasts.

Breast abscess

An abscess is a tender pus-filled lump in the breast that does not move.

They rarely occur, but when they do, they’re often associated with untreated or inadequately treated clogged ducts or mastitis.

Learn more about the signs and symptoms, possible infections, plus so much more on many other breastfeeding and pumping topics like returning to work, night feedings, introducing solids, and more, in the Balanced Breastfeeding Course!

thrush

Thrush is a fungal infection caused by a yeast (a type of fungus) called Candida albicans.

This infection can happen when your nipples become cracked or damaged and can develop on your nipples and inside your baby’s mouth.

Symptoms of thrush in your baby can include:

White patches in baby’s mouth, inside the cheeks, and on the tongue that can’t be wiped off
A yeast diaper rash
Redness or irritation around lips
Bleeding or cracking on lips

There are a few different causes of thrush, but one common cause is a bad latch causing nipple cracking, soreness, and bleeding.

Does Breastfeeding Change Your Breasts?

Breastfeeding does not “ruin” or even change your breasts!

Your breasts grow and stretch with milk production (which begins during pregnancy) then go back down regardless of choosing to breastfeed or not.

Unless you have IGT (insufficient glandular tissue), during pregnancy is when your breasts grow tissues to produce breast milk when your baby is born.

After you have your baby, whether you decide to breastfeed or not, your breasts will return to their normal size when you are not full or engorged.

This growth often stretches your breast skin and for some, cause stretch marks on the breasts.

Therefore, when your breast milk production regulates, or goes away if you decide not to breastfeed, most women’s breasts will drop a bit compared to what they looked like before growing this breast milk making tissue.

Furthermore, as we age and our breasts will drop lower and lower regardless of if we have kids or not because that is part of aging.

In addition, our metabolisms slowing down as we age, which will also lead to breasts looking different than they did before having a baby.

Breastfeeding does not “ruin” your breasts…

The point is, breastfeeding does not “ruin” breasts and we don’t need to blame all of our body changes on having one or more children.

A lot of these things were going to happen to an extent with or without children. It’s just being an aging adult and yes, multiple pregnancies combine with aging, and our genetics will change our bodies.

But I’m kind of tired of the blame lying completely on the children and breastfeeding which is completely wrong.

Especially since seeing some distorted breast cartoons on Instagram and Facebook about how mothers view their bodies after having a baby.

If this is what is truly comforting to you that is fine, but I think it is worth considering the way that joking and exaggerating can influence the way you see and feel about your body in a very real way. This idea is very similar to negative jokes manifesting into what we truly believe and feel about ourselves and thus, how we genuinely believe and feel we are.

There is such beauty in us growing and changing. It is an inevitable part of being mortal and living this life in our universe.

Looking at our bodies and how they change shows us what we have done and experienced. Where we have been and where we are now.

Questions or Comments on Breast Changes Early Pregnancy and Beyond?

If you have any questions or comments, please leave them below👇🏻

Talk soon, mama!

– Katelyn Lauren

Pin “Breast Changes Early Pregnancy and Beyond” for Later!

Save this post to your Pinterest to view again anytime!

DISCLAIMER: This post contains affiliate links, meaning I may get a commission if you decide to purchase something through my links at no cost to you. Please read my Disclaimer for more info.

DISCLAIMER: This post is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding you or your baby’s health. Please read my Medical Disclaimer for more info