Jan 10
13
Why the Breasts Enlarge During Pregnancy
Pregnancy produces so many changes in a woman’s body that it’s difficult to list all of them, especially since different women experience the symptoms of pregnancy with such different stories. While one woman may have morning sickness pretty much as soon as the pregnancy incepts, another may never have morning sickness. While one may have breast tenderness from the first day, another may not have it until way later in her first trimester, or even in her second or third. However, most women will experience some degree of breast enlargement during their pregnancy, and it most likely will occur during her first trimester.
Engorgement of the breasts may not occur fully until later on in the pregnancy, however, many women at least experience the soreness and tenderness, which most describe as similar to the changes in their breasts they often feel with premenstrual syndrome, where their breasts become sore and enlarged due to hormonal changes. The reason that the breasts enlarge during pregnancy is that the body essentially is preparing the woman’s breasts for breast feeding hew newborn infant when the child comes out to meet the world.
The hormonal changes that make that happen actually make the breasts feel tender and sore, and many women report that they can see their veins and blood vessels much more easily in their breasts, especially if their skin is more on the fair side. I’m one of those women, when I am pms’ing, I can definitely see my veins much more in my breasts, especially if I’m pretty pale at the time. This is also due to hormonal changes that push the vessels closer to the skin’s surface.
Another thing that happens to a pregnant woman’s breasts is that over time she will start to notice the nipple and the areola, the darker area around the nipple that is different in size depending on the woman, will start to turn a little darker, and often times the nipples will stiffen and stick out a little more. This may perhaps be nature’s way of helping an infant, who can’t see very far, be self guided toward the nipple to feed from it.
The enlarging of the breasts pretty much continues all the way through the pregnancy, and after the pregnancy as well, especially if a woman is breast feeding and her breasts have become engorged with milk. She will usually notice that her breasts go down in size as soon as the milk begins to dry up and her newborn has stopped feeding. Mother nature is truly amazing when you think about it, it’s quite a process!
