If you’ve every been pregnant or if you are pregnant
now, you’ve probably noticed a metamorphosis in your
bra cups. The physical changes (tender, swollen
breasts) may be one of the earliest clues that you
have conceived. Many experts believe that the color
change in the areola may also be helpful when it
comes to breast milk feeding.
What’s going on
Perhaps what’s even more remarkable than visible
changes is the extensive changes that are taking
place inside your breasts. The developing
placenta stimulates the release of estrogen and
progesterone, which will in turn stimulate the
complex biological system that helps to make lactation
possible.
Before you get pregnant, a combination of supportive
tissue, milk glands, and fat make up the larger portions of your breasts. The fact is, your newly
swollen breasts have been preparing for your
pregnancy since you were in your mother’s womb!
When you were born, your main milk ducts had already
formed. Your mammary glands stayed quiet until
you reached puberty, when a flood of the female
hormone estrogen caused them to grow and also to
swell. During pregnancy, those glands will kick
into high gear.
Before your baby arrives, glandular tissue has
replaced a majority of the fat cells and accounts
for your bigger than before breasts. Each breast
may actually get as much as 1 1/2 pounds heavier
than before!
Nestled among the fatty cells and glandular tissue
is an intricate network of channels or canals known
as milk ducts. The pregnancy hormones will
cause these ducts to increase in both number and
size, with the ducts branching off into smaller
canals near the chest wall known as ducts.
At the end of each duct is a cluster of smaller
sacs known as alveoli. The cluster of alveoli is
known as a lobe, while a cluster of lobes is
known as a lobe. Each breast will contain around
15 – 20 lobes, with one milk duct for every lobe.
The milk is produced inside the alveoli, which
was surrounded by tiny muscles that squeeze the
glands and help to push the milk out into the
ducts. Those ducts will lead to a bigger
duct that widens into a milk pool directly below
the areola.
The milk pools will act as reservoirs that hold the
milk until your baby sucks it through the tiny
openings in your nipples.
Mother Nature is so smart that your milk duct
system will become fully developed around the time
of your second trimester, so you can properly
breastfeed your baby even if he or she arrives
earlier than you are anticipating.
Breast milk feeding does help with nutrients and the support of brain growth, which is something every mother should think about.
The benefits for the nursing mom are just as
good as they are for the baby. The hormones that
are released during breast milk feeding will curb
blood loss post delivery and help to shrink the
uterus back to normal size.
Long term, the breast milk feeding mom will have a
lower risk for premenopausal breast cancer,
which is the kind that strikes before the age
of 50. The benefits will begin to show with
three to six months of breast milk feeding and increase
the longer that breast milk feeding continues.
By now, you should realize that breast milk is
one power packed liquid. It offers more for your
baby than formula, or any other scientific creation for that matter. As you begin to plan
for the future of your baby, make a commitment
to breast milk feeding him for as long as you possibly
can – as it will do both your bodies good.
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