In early pregnancy, your breasts may feel tender, heavy, tingly, or sore thanks to a rush of hormones beginning to prepare your body to produce milk. While the entire breast may be sore, the nipples may hurt the most—or at least be the most sensitive.
SORE, SWOLLEN AND TENDER BREASTS: If you experience that your breasts are becoming extra sensitive to any type of touch, it's a sign of pregnancy. This is due to the reason that during early stage of pregnancy, blood flow to your breasts increases, making the breast tissues more sensitive and swollen.
Breast Pain
Many women notice their nipples are very sensitive (and even painful at times) in the early weeks of pregnancy. If you're experiencing this, don't worry; it will pass after a few weeks. Some pregnant women also start to notice darkened and enlarged nipples as early as two weeks past conception.
Sore breasts in early pregnancy
Your breasts may become larger and feel tender, just as they might do before your period. They may also tingle. The veins may be more visible, and the nipples may darken and stand out.
Breast tenderness is often one of the earliest symptoms of pregnancy. According to the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development , breasts may become sore, heavy, or tingly as early as 1–2 weeks after conception. The nipples may also feel sensitive or even painful to touch.
Yes, breast tenderness can be one of the earliest signs of pregnancy. It usually starts around 4 to 6 weeks and lasts through the first trimester.
Breast sensitivity: Your breasts may become sensitive in case of both PMS and pregnancy. But in this one, you can spot the difference by the type of sensitivity. If your breasts get sore, you may be pregnant. Whereas, if they have swollen up and are only tender, chances are that you are only experiencing PMS.
The hormonal changes that occur as part of menstruation can cause breast tenderness and sore nipples. Most cases of breast or nipple tenderness occur just before menstruation begins (in the days just before your period). This is because estrogen and progesterone cause your breast tissue to swell.
The nipples and the area around the nipples (areola) become darker and larger. Small bumps may appear on the areola. These bumps will go away after you have your baby. You may notice a yellowish discharge, called colostrum, from your nipples as early as the 16th to 19th week.
A reduction in the levels of the hormones estrogen and progesterone before a period can cause sore breasts. These changes can also cause lymph node swelling, which may contribute to breast pain too. There may also be an association between breast pain and a hormone called prolactin.
Nipple tenderness in women of all ages can be caused by dry skin, injury, or friction. Breast tenderness can also be an early symptom of pregnancy. If your period is late and you've had unprotected sex, you should take a pregnancy test.
In many cases, you might get a positive result from an at-home test as early as 10 days after conception. For a more accurate result, wait until after you've missed your period to take a test. Remember, if you take a test too soon, it could be negative even if you're pregnant.
Premenstrual swelling and tenderness of both breasts often occurs during the second half of the menstrual cycle.
Excess fluids can impact the accuracy of the test results, so if your urine is diluted or pale yellow, hold off on taking a test. Diluted urine tends to also have diluted hCG levels which can skew the test results. Take a test when you naturally need to pee.
However, you don't need to stress too much about taking a pregnancy test at a specific time of day. Using urine later on when it's less concentrated may only “hypothetically delay a positive result by only 12 to 24 hours,” advises Dr. Flanagan.
As pregnancy hormones increase the blood supply to your breasts, you may feel a tingling sensation around your nipples. This can be one of the earliest symptoms of pregnancy and is sometimes noticeable within a week or so of conception.
Breasts become more sensitive. Your breasts may become sensitive due to hormonal changes. This could also be a sign that your period is about to start. A missed period is the most obvious sign of pregnancy, but if you're 4 days after ovulation, you'll have to wait another 9 to 12 days for it to be confirmed.
Breast pain can be due to many possible causes. Most likely breast pain is from hormonal fluctuations from menstruation, pregnancy, puberty, menopause, and breastfeeding. Breast pain can also be associated with fibrocystic breast disease, but it is a very unusual symptom of breast cancer.
The feeling of vaginal fullness and pressure during pregnancy can make a woman feel as if her vagina is tighter than normal. However, the increase in vaginal lubrication caused by pregnancy may also make a woman's vagina feel more elastic than usual.
Fibrocystic changes in your breasts may cause lumps or thickenings in your breast tissue. They do not indicate, though, the presence of cancer. In addition to causing pain and itching, fibrocystic breast changes can, at times, cause secretion of clear, white, yellow, or green nipple discharge.
Things like missing your period, sore or tender breasts, feeling more tired and nausea (morning sickness) are common symptoms of early pregnancy. Some people have symptoms of pregnancy before they miss their period.
A negative pregnancy test at night and positive in the morning. As strange as it sounds, you might get a negative result from the pregnancy test at night and a positive one in the morning. In this case, you should wait for another 3 to 5 days before you take your pregnancy test again.
If you test yourself even earlier than that, it's just as likely that what you measured is simply a normal variation in hormone production. Early positives may mean you have two more babies on the way (which research indicates is more common among women over the age of 35), or they may mean that you have just one.