Breast changes by week of pregnancy. What changes occur in the breast during pregnancy at different stages?

With the onset of conception, changes in the mammary glands occur in the female body, which are difficult to miss. Under the influence of hormones, breasts enlarge and become more sensitive in early pregnancy.

These changes are sometimes attributed to premenstrual syndrome, since they appear even before the pregnancy is diagnosed. But at this stage a new life is already developing. It is important to understand how breasts change during pregnancy and what to watch out for.

Breast growth is observed in all women preparing for motherhood. From the first weeks they notice that the mammary glands become more voluminous. This is explained by the growth of the glandular tissue of the breast and milk ducts - their growth is stimulated by the hormones estrogen and.

Despite the intensive growth of the breasts while expecting a baby, after childbirth these changes may disappear - in many women they may return to their original appearance. There is no need to worry if the breasts do not change at the beginning of pregnancy - sometimes the process of their enlargement starts a little later, closer to the sixth month.

Sensitivity and pain

Against the background of hormonal changes, expectant mothers notice pain in the chest. At the same time, the nipples become sensitive, and the glands become more tense and dense. This indicates that the body is actively preparing for.

It is because of the increased sensitivity of the breast that many women begin to suspect pregnancy. Therefore, the answer to the question of whether breasts hurt in the early stages of a normal pregnancy will be positive.

This pain will be more pronounced than before menstruation, since there are much more hormones in the body.

Darkening of the areolas

Areolas are dark areas of skin around the nipples. With the onset of pregnancy, they darken and enlarge, and characteristic pimples appear on their surface. The size of the areolas can increase from 3-5 to 4-7 cm.

After the baby is born, these changes will disappear, the color and size of the areolas will become the same.

Nipple discharge

Many women mistakenly believe that breast discharge, namely colostrum, begins to be produced just before childbirth or only after the birth of the baby. Actually this is not true. Of course, everything is individual. But breast discharge can appear even in the early stages of pregnancy, closer to the 12th week. And this is a completely natural phenomenon.

There is no need to worry about the appearance of discharge from the breast; you need to pay more attention to caring for the mammary glands. To avoid staining underwear and outerwear with secreted colostrum, you can use special pads for bras.

Venous network on the chest

As a pregnant woman's mammary glands increase in size, blood flow to their tissue also increases. This is why a network of veins appears under the skin, resembling a cobweb.

This is a completely normal phenomenon that occurs in all women expecting a baby. After childbirth and the end of breastfeeding, not a trace will remain of the venous network.

Reasons for changes

Changes in the breast occur under the influence of hormones. After conception, estrogen and progesterone are intensively synthesized in the female body. Intensive development also begins, which causes the production of the hormone prolactin.

Under their influence, a woman’s breasts begin to actively prepare for lactation. It increases due to the proliferation of glandular and connective tissue, and its blood supply improves. All this leads to increased sensitivity of the mammary glands.

How long do unusual sensations last?

Breast discomfort and pain usually improve by the second trimester of pregnancy. This is explained by the fact that the hormonal levels have stabilized by this time.

But this does not mean that the mammary glands have stopped preparing for breastfeeding. Their growth and development continues throughout pregnancy, but is no longer so noticeable to the woman.

If there are no changes?

If pregnancy occurs, hormonal changes do not bypass any woman. But if in the early stages of pregnancy the breasts do not hurt, we are not necessarily talking about pathology.

This may be explained by the lower susceptibility of a woman’s mammary glands to hormonal changes - this is an individual phenomenon that is the norm. Some women experience intense breast growth only in the second half of pregnancy.

In addition, not all women are attentive to their body and think about how their breasts hurt in the early stages of pregnancy. Due to their own inattention, they miss the first signs of pregnancy.

What symptoms should you be wary of?

Sometimes women are worried because their breasts do not grow and remain soft to the touch. This is not always a reason to panic, but a woman is advised to listen to her feelings and possible symptoms of trouble.

So, reasons for concern may be:

• from the genital tract of any intensity;
• sudden increase in body temperature for no apparent reason;
• asymmetrical breast growth, the presence of bulges and depressions;
• general weakness.

If you have any of the symptoms, you should consult a doctor as soon as possible. Also requiring attention is a condition when the breasts stop hurting in the early stages of pregnancy or return to their original volume.

If tension and sensitivity of the mammary glands are completely absent, we can talk about conditions such as or.

How to care for your breasts in early pregnancy

Enlargement, changes in the appearance of the breast and discharge from it during pregnancy are a temporary phenomenon.

After the end of lactation, the mammary glands most often return to their previous volume, but at the same time stretch marks and sagging skin often appear on them. To preserve the beauty of your breasts, you need to take care of them from the first weeks of pregnancy.

During the washing process, there is no need to treat the areolas and nipples with detergent. The fact is that soap destroys the protective layer of the skin, drying it out. On the delicate skin of the areola, this can cause cracks and irritation.

To prevent stretch marks, you can use oils or other cosmetics. You need to carefully approach the choice of bra - a woman should feel as comfortable as possible in it.

Changes in the breasts in the first trimester of pregnancy manifest themselves differently in all expectant mothers. For some, they are certainly associated with increased sensitivity and pain, for others - with external manifestations, and in both cases we are talking about variants of the norm.

There is no single standard for what healthy breasts look like in the early stages of pregnancy; everything is individual. If the changes are not accompanied by pathological symptoms, there is no need to worry.

Useful video on how to prepare your breasts for lactation

During pregnancy, nipples change like the rest of a woman's body, and these changes can raise a number of questions. It is clear that for successful feeding of a child, the mammary gland is actively preparing, glandular tissue grows, the breasts increase in size and become dense.

But nipples must also undergo changes during pregnancy. For breastfeeding to be successful, they need to get bigger, respond properly to stimulation, and all this needs to happen before the baby is born.

Changes in the nipples during pregnancy include the appearance of discharge, to which the skin can react with irritation, itching, and the formation of crusts. And we cannot exclude the possibility of illnesses during pregnancy that are not related to pregnancy; their symptoms must be recognized in order to consult a doctor in time.

At the beginning of pregnancy, nipples change literally from the first days; in fact, by 5-6 weeks, any woman notices that they are not the same as before. If non-pregnant women have a light, pale pink nipple, in a pregnant woman it becomes dark, almost brown. Often they become very sensitive, and even hurt, and all these early changes are included in the classic first signs of pregnancy.

In the early stages of pregnancy, the mammary glands quickly change along with the breasts, by the second trimester the changes stop, but by 20-25 weeks many begin to produce colostrum, and this again draws attention to the breasts, which can cause problems. After pregnancy and breastfeeding, the nipples lighten and return to their previous size, but they will not be quite the same as before.

In this article we will touch on all normal changes and possible deviations from the norm, and also analyze ways to solve them.

Changes in the nipples of the mammary glands due to pregnancy

Nipple sensitivity

One of the hormones that maintains pregnancy and is released in large quantities in the early stages is prolactin. It is also called the lactation hormone. The tissues of the mammary gland and nipples in particular have receptors for this hormone, and when its level is high, they receive the command to quickly grow and develop. Blood circulation in the chest sharply increases, it becomes engorged and grows. The size of the areolas increases significantly in a matter of weeks, the skin of the nipples does not keep up with these changes and is greatly stretched, which causes sensitivity and even pain. So if your nipples hurt or itch during pregnancy, perhaps even burning and tingling - this is not scary and this is not a disease, rather it is a sign of pregnancy.

Not all women have nipple pain during pregnancy; moreover, some breasts hardly change, and this is also normal, it depends on sensitivity to prolactin. This does not mean at all that there will be little milk later, it’s just that everything is individual for everyone.

Is there any way I can help myself?

Yes, sure. First of all, you need to choose a soft cotton bra that is suitable in size, and now start using products for stretch marks on the chest during pregnancy.

Swelling of the nipples

Appearance of the breast in a non-pregnant woman.

This is what the breasts look like during pregnancy and after childbirth, the nipples are large, with a dark areola.

During pregnancy, the nipples swell due to the growth of the milk ducts; they must become convex so that the baby can easily grasp the mammary gland in the baby's mouth. Areolas stretch simply as a consequence of breast enlargement. At the end of breastfeeding, the size of the breasts becomes smaller, and the area of ​​the areolas will also decrease, but the nipples will most likely remain larger than they were before childbirth.

In many ways, the type of mammary glands depends on heredity. Flat nipples can become an obstacle to feeding, and to prevent this from happening, you need to prepare your breasts for feeding.

Nipple color

Reddening of the nipples during pregnancy is less common and this normally occurs in women with very fair skin, natural blondes.

Darkening of the nipples during pregnancy is caused by the deposition of the pigment melanin, which is produced in the skin under the influence of sex hormones.

The timing of when nipples darken during pregnancy is different, for example, for some women this happens at the earliest stages, already by 6-8 weeks, while for others the color of the nipples changes gradually. It should be noted that strong darkening of the nipples during pregnancy in the early stages may subsequently become less pronounced in the last months, stretching and increasing in size, the areola gradually becomes lighter.

During pregnancy, not everyone's nipples darken; this again depends on sensitivity to pregnancy hormones. If your nipples have not darkened, there is nothing to worry about; not everyone develops other pigmentation, for example, a dark stripe on the stomach or chloasma spots on the face. At the same time, dark, brown nipples, the color of which you may not like so much now, will not remain that way forever, they will definitely lighten.

Darkening of nipples during pregnancy photo

Nipple discharge

What does colostrum look like? This is a clear liquid interspersed with white or yellow color, sometimes just white or yellow liquid from the nipples.

Pregnancy does not exclude the possibility of simultaneous lactation; if you feed your baby during pregnancy, your breasts will continue to produce normal breast milk, although its taste may change, and this is a common reason for the baby to refuse to breastfeed. Still, before giving birth, you should take a break from breastfeeding, at least for a couple of months.

Preparing nipples for feeding during pregnancy

Sometimes the mammary glands are normal, but do not react as they should, instead of lengthening and becoming convex in response to irritation, they retract. Such nipples also require attention during pregnancy, since during this period they can be trained to respond to stimulation correctly, however, the techniques used in this case can cause uterine contractions due to the release of oxytocin. This is the reason for the ban on any manipulation of the breasts if there is a threat of interruption; massage of the nipples during pregnancy is contraindicated in such cases.

If the woman is healthy and there is no threat of miscarriage, then to strengthen the nipples, it is recommended to stretch them by rolling them between the fingers; such massage of the nipples during pregnancy should not be done for more than 1 minute, and should not be carried out aggressively, with violence.

Nipple massage during pregnancy, photo

Remember, even if you have flat nipples, this is not so important, the baby still sucks not the nipple, but the breast, which means you will be able to breastfeed in any case.

Mammary test for readiness for childbirth

Stimulation of the nipples during pregnancy during its normal course does not pose a threat and should not provoke labor, only if the mother and child are ready for it; this can cause real contractions.

Nipple problems during pregnancy and how to solve them

If your nipples peel, dry and crack during pregnancy

Like other skin changes, dry nipples can be caused by a lack of vitamins in a pregnant woman, such as vitamin A and B vitamins, hormonal changes and skin irritation from constantly leaking colostrum.

As a rule, mammary glands peel during pregnancy, most often in the last months, but some have to deal with this already at the very beginning. If you do nothing and just endure, cracked nipples may appear, which is not at all pleasant.

Peeling, dryness and cracked nipples during pregnancy are not an insoluble problem. Do you take care of your breast skin? Do you use creams? Do not deprive the nipple area; be sure to lubricate this area with anti-stretch mark cream. Cracks that have already appeared can be healed with bepanthen or sea buckthorn oil.

Pain and cracks interfere with breastfeeding. When packing your bag for the maternity hospital, don’t forget to put a special cream to care for your nipples when feeding. Now in the Russian Federation the most popular are Bepanten and Purinal, although the whole world uses Lansinoh HPA lanolin ointment when breastfeeding, which has huge advantages: it does not need to be washed off before feeding, it allows the breast skin to breathe and instantly relieves pain in nipples with cracks, so often occurring in the first days of breastfeeding. Until recently, it was not possible to buy this ointment in Russia - it was simply not supplied, today you can purchase it when ordering a bag for the maternity hospital from our partner.

Have you long dreamed of becoming a mother, so you listen very sensitively to your body? Is there a delay in the menstrual cycle, but the body does not signal conception? Are you experiencing chest pain while pregnant? No need to worry! Let's figure out when breasts begin to hurt during pregnancy and why this happens.

Chest pain as a sign of pregnancy

At the beginning of pregnancy, a number of changes begin to occur in a woman's body. The subjective sensations that you observe during this period themselves indicate an interesting situation. Women's breasts react especially sensitively to hormonal changes in the body.

The first signs of pregnancy:

• nausea. If you experience nausea at the beginning of pregnancy, read the current article Nausea during pregnancy >>>;
• fatigue;
• irritability;
• pain in the mammary glands;
• an increase or, conversely, a decrease in appetite (the book Secrets of Proper Nutrition for an Expectant Mother >>> will tell you how to eat properly during this important period for any woman);
• nagging pain below.

Important! Swelling, heaviness, tingling and other types of pain can be present in both one and two mammary glands.

But the opposite situation can also happen. The fact that you are pregnant will be indicated by the absence of the usual pain before the start of the menstrual cycle.

Causes of chest pain

When your breasts begin to hurt during pregnancy, you shouldn’t immediately worry and run to the hospital. Let's look at why this happens:

1. The main cause of chest pain is the preparation of the female body for feeding a child. Even during pregnancy, high levels of hCG stimulate an increase in the size of the mammary glands and the changes occurring in it;
2. You may experience pain due to improperly selected clothing. When choosing underwear, you should pay special attention to the choice of bra. The mammary glands should not be compressed, so it is recommended to purchase new, more comfortable sets.

How long do breasts hurt during pregnancy?

A few days before your period, you probably experienced mild pain, which disappeared a couple of days after the start of your period. Even if these expectations are familiar to you, during pregnancy they take on a slightly different character.

There is a misconception that breast pain during pregnancy is similar to menstruation. After fertilization of the egg, the discomfort is of a bursting nature, creating a feeling of filling the mammary glands from the inside.

Do everyone's breasts hurt the same during pregnancy? Not at all, sometimes the sensations can become tingling or radiate to the armpit area.

Do breasts always hurt during pregnancy?

• To the questions: “Do breasts always hurt during pregnancy?”, “Does breast pain in the early stages of pregnancy differ from sensations in later stages?” there is no clear answer because each organism is unique;
• There is no clear timing for the onset of discomfort in the chest area;

All changes in a pregnant woman’s body occur individually, pain in the mammary glands is no exception. From the personal experience of pregnant women, it was recorded: the greater the weight of the expectant mother, the higher the likelihood of discomfort in the chest.

• You may experience pain immediately after fertilization, i.e. a few weeks before the expected date of the onset of menstruation or a month after conception. On average, women experience discomfort at 6-7 weeks of pregnancy. More information about what happens at the very beginning of pregnancy is written in the article 1st trimester of pregnancy >>>

Important! Most often, by the end of the first trimester, health returns to normal. If your chest pain doesn't go away, don't worry! It is considered normal if discomfort persists until childbirth.

Do breasts hurt during frozen and ectopic pregnancy?

If you suspect problems with your pregnancy, then, first of all, you should listen more carefully to your body. First, let’s answer the question: “Do the breasts hurt during a frozen pregnancy?”

The death of the fetus is accompanied by a malfunction in the woman’s body. If during the normal course of pregnancy your mammary glands were very sensitive, reacted to any touch, and hurt, then the frozen development of the embryo affects them in the opposite way: the discharge intensifies, the breasts become coarser.

Important! During a frozen pregnancy, the mammary glands lose sensitivity and all pain will disappear. Such metamorphoses occur not only at the initial stages of gestation, but also at its final stages.

Due to hormonal changes in a woman’s breasts, painful sensations occur. Ectopic pregnancy is a pathology associated with the development of the fetus outside the uterine cavity. Normal pregnancy and childbirth are impossible in such a situation. However, the processes occurring in the mammary glands correspond to normal pregnancy.

At least once in her life, every woman has encountered the phenomenon of painful sensations in the chest. As a rule, the appearance of such symptoms is associated with premenstrual syndrome and only in some cases can they signal the presence of diseases.

Chest pain during pregnancy is a normal phenomenon that should not cause concern, despite the fact that such a symptom may manifest itself differently in each expectant mother. Some people experience these sensations from the very beginning, while others may not notice anything like this until childbirth. At what stage of pregnancy does your breasts begin to hurt? When are such symptoms normal, and when should you see a doctor? Is it possible to relieve pain?

Main reasons

Often, women planning to conceive are concerned about whether their breasts hurt in the early stages of pregnancy. Often this symptom is one of the first signs of fertilization. But it is worth noting that everything is quite individual; each woman experiences similar sensations at different times. Some people experience chest pain immediately after successful fertilization of the egg, and this is due to changes in hormonal levels in the female body.

After the fertilized cell attaches to the wall of the uterus, the body of a pregnant woman begins to intensively produce human chorionic gonadotropin or the so-called pregnancy hormone. It is this that promotes an increase in the size of the mammary glands. This process is precisely the reason why breasts hurt in the early stages of pregnancy. And this is a completely normal phenomenon that you should not be afraid of.

What kind of breasts are there during pregnancy?

In addition to the characteristic pain associated with stretching of the connective and fatty tissue of the organ due to an increase in its volume, the expectant mother may observe the following changes:

• feeling of fullness due to breast swelling;
• the appearance of stretch marks;
• release of a small amount of colostrum due to the opening of the milk ducts;
• significant filling of blood vessels, as a result of which the venous network of the chest begins to be visually defined;
• change in color of the areola and nipple to a darker one, change in the shape of the nipples (minor tubercles may appear in the area of ​​the areola);
• itching and burning in the chest area.

How long can breast pain begin?

Typically, similar symptoms are observed from the beginning of pregnancy until the end of the first trimester and are not a cause for concern. In combination with pain, such signs indicate the restructuring and preparation of the female body for the upcoming birth of a baby.

Painful breasts in the second half of pregnancy

An increase in the volume of mammary glands is observed throughout the entire gestation period. In the first trimester, as a rule, the breasts swell slightly. And starting from the twentieth week of pregnancy, the content of the hormone estrogen in the body of a woman expecting a child increases significantly, which leads to an even greater enlargement of the mammary glands. Increased breast growth, in turn, causes the expectant mother some discomfort. In particular, it leads to painful sensations.

Typically, chest pain during pregnancy, in the second half, does not have such pronounced symptoms as immediately after conception. A woman experiences mostly aching and nagging pain associated with hypothermia of the body, or mechanical influence, for example, pressure or compression.

Some mothers experience increased sensitivity of the mammary glands to the point that any light touch causes unbearable painful sensations, for example, when the nipples come into contact with clothing.

In other women, colostrum begins to be released during this period of time, which adds to the existing pain sensations a tingling sensation in the chest area, as well as itching and burning.

Even if the pain is constant, there is no need to worry. To relieve symptoms, you need to carefully monitor the hygiene of the mammary glands, as well as use more comfortable underwear.

How to reduce discomfort?

It is impossible to completely get rid of chest pain during pregnancy, because it is a natural and inevitable process. To alleviate your condition, doctors advise following a few simple recommendations. Let's talk about them.

Wearing a special bra

It is advisable to abandon tight underwear made from synthetic fabrics, replacing it with a cotton product without frame elements and with wide, comfortable straps. Preference may be given to mothers. To support your aching breasts while you sleep, use a supportive top instead of a bra. And to avoid stains from secreted colostrum on your underwear, use special bra pads.

Using special creams

They contain silicone and vitamin E. There are quite a lot of similar products on the market. Among this variety you can find special nourishing creams, cosmetics for stretch marks, as well as breast firming, moisturizing and protective products. But the most profitable option is universal creams. They perform all of the above functions to maintain healthy breasts during pregnancy.

Careful breast hygiene

Avoid crusting of dried colostrum. Wash your breasts regularly and take air baths. It is recommended to use neutral hygiene products that do not cause allergic reactions.

Special massage

Light massage of the breasts also brings some relief. You can do it using a special terry mitten from the very beginning of pregnancy. If chest pain is tolerable, it is recommended to use rotational movements in the nipple area during massage. Such manipulations contribute to its hardening, which subsequently simplifies the process of breastfeeding the baby.

Physical exercise

You should not refuse them if you have pain in the chest area. Moderate physical exercise not only does not interfere with the normal course of pregnancy, but also benefits the mother’s body.

When should you see a doctor?

Painful and sensitive breasts during pregnancy are considered normal. However, some symptoms may still alarm a woman. In such cases, you should tell your doctor about them to rule out possible pathologies.

Among the most unpleasant diseases of pregnant women that should be given special attention are the following:

1. Late toxicosis, accompanied by the appearance of obvious and hidden edema. With this complication, swelling, localized in different parts of the female body, can cause pain under the mammary glands.
2. Acute, persistent chest pain in some cases is a reason for examination by a mammologist. There is a high probability that the woman suffers from mastitis or lactostasis. It is important to identify the disease before labor begins and take measures to eliminate it.
3. Painful sensations concentrated under the glands or in the center of the chest may indicate the presence of pathological processes in the heart muscle, for example, the development of coronary heart disease.

Characteristics of breast diseases

As a rule, lactostasis develops in nursing women after the birth of the baby, however, in rare cases, a similar phenomenon can occur during the gestation period. This is due to the early formation of breast milk, as a result of which it stagnates in the ducts of the mammary glands, which leads to painful sensations.

This disease has its own specific symptoms, including:

• pain in the mammary glands;
• the formation of compactions in them that are easily identified by touch;
• local hyperemia (redness) of the skin of the chest;
• sharp pain when pressed.

Mastitis by its nature is an infectious disease and is expressed by inflammatory processes in the tissues of the mammary glands. This disease most often occurs in nursing mothers. It occurs as a complication during prolonged breastfeeding. This type of mastitis is not associated with the presence of infections.

However, in pregnant women, the disease develops as a result of infections caused by improper or insufficient sanitary treatment of the nipples of the mammary glands. Bacteria leading to inflammation penetrate inside through the ducts, and crusts form on the nipples due to the release of colostrum. If breast care during pregnancy is insufficient, a bacterial infection quickly develops and moves deep into the mammary gland, causing a number of unpleasant symptoms. Signs of mastitis include:

• acute pain and feeling of fullness in the chest;
• red, inflamed skin on some parts of the mammary glands;
• the appearance of dense formations;
• increase in size of the mammary glands;
• increase in body temperature of a pregnant woman.

If you do not seek medical help in time, inflammation will lead to the formation of purulent abscesses inside the mammary glands with subsequent contamination of not only milk, but also blood. In advanced cases, treatment of mastitis comes down to surgery.

Other causes of pain

Sometimes pain in the chest area has nothing to do with a woman’s pregnancy, but it may indicate the presence of ailments such as:

• diseases of the digestive tract (for example, peptic ulcer or gastritis);
• neurological diseases (for example, osteochondrosis, neuralgia);
• unstable mental state of a woman, accompanied by anxiety and depression;
• diseases of the pulmonary system (for example, pneumonia, bronchitis).

Conclusion

Often women are interested in at what stage of pregnancy their breasts begin to hurt. First of all, it is worth understanding that everything depends on the individual characteristics of the body. Often, breast pain in early pregnancy is a normal sign. But no matter what pain may accompany the process of bearing a fetus, try to closely monitor all changes in your body. You should not attribute all possible symptoms to the normal course of pregnancy. To avoid complications, pay especially close attention to the condition of your mammary glands.