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Home › Articles › Breastfeeding Basics › Pregnancy Breast Changes

Pregnancy Breast Changes

How the Body Prepares to
Nourish a Baby

By Teri Brown

Pages:  1  2  3  4  

From puberty onward a woman's breasts are a part of who she is. Whether we are satisfied with them or not, we live with them and for the most part rarely think about them. All that changes during pregnancy. Just ask Micaela Vitello from Dixon, Calif.

"I noticed the symptoms in August of 2005," Vitello says. "I would have been about 1 to 2 months pregnant. They were swollen, a little red and hurt ... I didn't find out I was pregnant until October. I got a little sick and then realized I hadn't had a period. The soreness of my breasts should have been a sign, but I was in denial." Her breasts remained swollen and sore throughout her pregnancy.

Many women find their breasts become sore, sometimes painfully so, during pregnancy. And no wonder. According to doctors, there is no other time in a woman's life where her breasts change so rapidly or for such an important reason. Each trimester of a woman's pregnancy brings about crucial breast transformations as the body readies itself to nourish its offspring.

Breast Changes for Months 0 to 3
Dr. Annette Perez-Delboy, the medical director of the Obstetrics and Gynecology Division at Columbia Eastside Medical Center, says the changes are all due to hormones. "Hormonal changes during pregnancy cause increased blood flow and changes in the breast tissue, which may make your breasts feel swollen, sore, tingly and unusually sensitive to touch," Dr. Perez-Delboy says. "Breast tenderness is one of the earliest signs of pregnancy. It usually starts around 4 to 6 weeks and lasts through the first trimester."

One of the most common changes stimulated by pregnancy hormones is a rapid period of breast growth, especially during the first eight weeks of pregnancy, Dr. Perez-Delboy says. Some women will grow a cup size or more during pregnancy, especially with their first child. This is because during early pregnancy, fat builds up in the breasts and the milk glands increase in size.


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