| | Your Bra Size will fluctuate throughout Pregnancy & Breastfeeding. Here's what to expect:
As you may already know, one of the earliest physical signs of pregnancy can be breast tenderness. At some point in your pregnancy (often but not always around the second month), breasts will start becoming larger as they prepare to nurse the new arrival. Some women experience this as a feeling of fullness rather than actual increase in size, and others are very aware of needing a larger cup size.
Some women will continue to increase in cup size over the course of their pregnancy, and others find they have an increase during their first trimester, and not again until close to the end of their pregnancy. As well, as your belly increases in size, your rib cage (band) measurement will also likely increase. Women who are petite or carrying high will often experience more increase in rib band than women who are taller or carrying low. Overall, in our experience, most women increase one or two cup sizes and one or two rib band sizes over the course of their pregnancy.
Then, for the first few days after giving birth, when you breastfeed, your baby receives colostrum. At around the third day, your milk will ‘come in’. At that point, you can experience an increase of one or two more cup sizes from your third trimester. This period of engorgement may last from 2-6 days.
Typically after about 6 weeks to a few months of nursing, these fluctuations settle down. You will have established your breastfeeding relationship and routine, and will usually decrease in cup size. As well, around this point, your rib band size will begin to go back to your pre-pregnancy size. This is the size you will likely stay until you stop breastfeeding exclusively. That is, at about your pre-pregnancy rib band size, and up one cup size.
At the time that you begin introducing solids, your milk production begins to slow down. Your cup size will continue to decrease as you begin nursing less and less. If you plan to breastfeed throughout the first year, for example, you may find that you are back down to your pre-pregnancy bra size in both the band and cup by the time your baby is 12 months old.
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