A woman’s body goes through an untold number of changes during the different stages of pregnancy. That’s the understatement of the century.
Perhaps no part of the body changes more than the breasts.
We’ve discussed previously how to get your breasts back after pregnancy, but we felt it prudent to educate on what happens to your breasts during pregnancy and how to keep them at their healthiest during these nine months.
The most common changes in your breasts during pregnancy could include:
Breast Growth
If you’re on this site, chances are you’re looking to naturally increase the size of your breasts. Well, if you want to get pregnant, then there’s really no more natural way to increase your breast size than that (those other side effects aside, right?)
You’ll start to notice your boobs will look larger around the six to eight week mark. Good news is they’ll continue to grow through your pregnancy. The bad news is that this could leave some unwanted changes to your breasts after delivery (again, revisit our article on how to restore your breasts after pregnancy).
Typical growth is around a one-to-two cup sizes.
Unwanted side effects include: stretch marks and itchiness.
Pigment and Veins
Typical of pregnancy, your breasts will probably start to show their veins much more stunningly.
After the first few months of pregnancy, the skin around your areolas will start to darken in color as well as increase in size.
Areola Bumps
You might not have ever noticed the bumps on your areolas before, but when you’re pregnant, you almost certainly will.
The bumps, called “Montgomery’s tubercles,” are just an oil producing gland which help to sterilize your nipple during breastfeeding.
Leaks
Uh oh, this one sounds bad, right? It’s completely natural—don’t worry!
Right around the three month mark, your breasts will start to produce milk and with that some women (not all) experience a leaking of this milk in the form of a yellowish substance.
Lumps
A more uncommon breast-changing symptom of pregnancy, but one to watch out for nonetheless.
These lumps are probably nothing more than cysts cause by the production of milk as it’s unusual for women to develop breast cancer during pregnancy.
However, please let your doctor know about any lumps you feel in your breasts during any stage of life. The sooner the better, too.
Now that you know what changes you might experience in your breasts during pregnancy, what are some things that you can do to alleviate some of the discomfort brought on by those changes?