Nipples, Veins, and Stretch Marks Will Lighten But after you're done breastfeeding, she adds, your nipples, areolas, and Montgomery glands go back to their pre-breastfeeding state. Stretch marks will also lighten, though they won't ever disappear.
You can expect your nipples to return to their original size and color (likely lighter and smaller than when you were breastfeeding) and extra veins should disappear, says Kasper. All those stretch marks, however, are yours to keep, she adds.
Ultimately, while nipple changes are common during and after pregnancy, most women can expect their nipples to return to their previous state over time.
Use purified lanolin or gel pads.
If your nipples are dry or cracked, applying purified lanolin after each feeding may help.
Again, blame it on your hormones: during pregnancy, you may notice your nipples grow larger and darken in color. Give them a few months after baby is born and they should return to normal.
You'll know it's fully healed when there's no indication of any redness, swelling, tenderness or discharge. Nipple piercings can sometimes take up to 12 months to fully heal, so be patient!
A history of breastfeeding, the number of children breastfed, the duration of each child's breastfeeding, or the amount of weight gained during pregnancy did not predict changes in breast shape—dispelling the myth that breastfeeding causes breasts to sag.
Nipple fissures are painful cracks in your nipple that can appear in one or both breasts. Anyone can get them, but fissures most often result from breastfeeding (chestfeeding). Nipple fissures can become so painful that they may prevent you from nursing even if you'd prefer to continue.
If you find 1 or both nipples hurt at every feed, or your nipples start to crack or bleed, it's important to get help from your midwife, health visitor or breastfeeding supporter as soon as you can. They can watch as you feed your baby and help you get them correctly positioned and attached to the breast.
If you have tried to improve the positioning and latch but you still feel intense pain, seek help. Some discomfort when latching in the early days is normal. Intense pain that does not subside after a few seconds indicates a problem.
Fortunately, within a few months postpartum, most nipples return to their original appearance.
Once your little one has weaned, your nipples and breasts may return to their previous size, and your body will absorb the remaining milk. Body weight is another factor that influences whether your breasts will return to their pre-breastfeeding size.
You should expect some initial discomfort for a few weeks as your body adjusts to a suckling baby, but most nipple fissures will begin to heal after a few days, with deeper fissures needing one to two weeks to heal.
"These changes happen in order to help your baby more easily find and latch onto your breast," says Prezas. But after you're done breastfeeding, she adds, your nipples, areolas, and Montgomery glands go back to their pre-breastfeeding state. Stretch marks will also lighten, though they won't ever disappear.
“After you stop breastfeeding, your body has to get back to baseline again which can take some time and cause a lot of symptoms, including appetite changes and metabolism changes,” Moskovitz says. That said, it's not a guarantee that you'll gain weight after you stop nursing.
1 Once breastfeeding has ended, the Montgomery glands usually shrink back down and the texture of the areola returns to its pre-pregnancy state.
To find out if your baby is sucking only on your nipple, check what your nipple looks like when it comes out of your baby's mouth. Your nipple should not look flat or compressed. It should look round and long or the same shape as it was before the feeding. Get answers to common questions about breastfeeding and pain.
Check your infant's positioning and latch-on. Encourage your infant to open wide by tickling the upper lip and manually expressing colostrum or milk. Your nipple should look rounded when the baby comes off the breast. If your nipple is flattened or angled you need to work on a deeper latch.
Healthy nipple after breastfeeding – The nipple shape appears normal and full, with no evidence of abrasion or nipple compression. Compressed nipple after breastfeeding – The nipple may be sloped or evenly compressed, and there may be a blanched (white) compression stripe.
Signs of sore nipples
Symptoms of sore nipples may include temporary pain as a result of suction (vacuum) injury in the first few days post-partum. Nipple pain that extends beyond this may include signs of fissures, skin abrasions, cracked nipples, scab formation, or pale or dark blotches on the nipple.
Breastfeeding can be a very magical time for both Mum and baby. It can also help enormously with the initial weight loss and stimulates the shrinking of the uterus and helps flatten your tummy. As well as helping burn calories the nipple stimulation of breast feeding produces the hormone oxytocin.
When you cut back on breastfeeding or pumping, or your baby does, and/or stop altogether, your body produces less and less oxytocin and prolactin, these “good hormones,” so it follows that you might feel something akin to a comedown, feeling less and less calm (to put it mildly) and less and less contented (borderline ...
Just like with breasts, there's no one way that nipples are supposed to look. Both nipples and areolas (the circular skin around your nipple) come in different sizes and colors, from light pink to brownish black. The color of your nipples usually relates to your skin color.
The science says that nipple sensitivity is influenced by a host of factors including, but not limited to, the body's levels of estrogen and progestogen, the location of your nipples, the placement of your nerves and your breast tissue.