How to clean your breasts during pregnancy

Women's breasts are very delicate and need to be carefully cared for and cleaned. Especially after pregnancy, due to changes in hormones in the body, the breasts are prone to colostrum or hard scabs, some of which may cause itching. If not cleaned in time, many small bumps may grow. In addition, some women have inverted nipples, which should be corrected during pregnancy to facilitate the baby's sucking after birth. So, how should you clean your breasts during pregnancy?

Why should you clean your breasts during pregnancy?

It not only keeps the mammary ducts open, but also helps increase nipple toughness and reduce the occurrence of nipple cracks during lactation. During the colostrum stage, scabs are likely to form on the nipples.

If you do not pay attention to correcting inverted nipples during pregnancy and wait until you are feeding your baby to correct them, it will lead to breastfeeding difficulties.

How to clean your breasts during pregnancy

How to clean nipples during pregnancy

Step 1: Nipple Care

If the nipple scab is difficult to remove, do not remove it abruptly. You can first apply vegetable oil (sesame oil, peanut oil or soybean oil), and then wash it with clean water after the scab softens. Before going to bed, cover the nipple with a square gauze about 10 cm long and coated with oil, and wipe off the hard scab the next morning. After taking a bath, apply olive oil or vitamin ointment on the nipple, and gently rub the nipple and surrounding areas with your thumb and index finger to make the nipple skin delicate, so that the mother will not feel pain when the baby sucks the nipple after birth. Be careful not to pull or over-stimulate the nipple. Usually, gentle and moderate nipple cleaning will not cause uterine contraction reaction.

Step 2: Correcting inverted nipples

If you have flat or inverted nipples, pinch the nipples with your thumb, index finger and middle finger, gently pull them outwards, hold for a moment, pull 15 times each time, and do this 3 times a day. A breast pump can also be used for correction. If you persist for a period of time, the nipples will gradually protrude.

The correct way to massage your breasts

Cover your breasts with a hot towel and apply gentle pressure with your hands. After cleaning the breasts, apply edible olive oil. Use your fingers to gently massage the breasts in a clockwise direction from the inside to the outside. Use the fingertips to gently massage around the breasts in circles. Gently press the breasts and gently massage from all sides toward the nipples. Press the edge of the areola with your thumb and index finger, and then squeeze gently with two fingers.

Notes on breast cleaning

1. Not suitable for washing with soap

The stratum corneum of a woman's breast will soften during pregnancy. If you frequently use cleansing products such as soap, the keratinized cells on the skin surface will be washed away through mechanical and chemical effects, prompting cell division and proliferation, which will damage the protective layer on the skin surface and cause swelling of the epidermis. In addition, soap can easily alkaline the local skin of the breast and promote the proliferation of alkaline bacteria on the skin. Furthermore, washing with soap also removes the oil that protects the local skin lubrication of the breast.

2. Some ladies like to scrub their skin hard when taking a bath, which causes their skin to turn red and even cause subcutaneous bleeding spots. This habit is not good, especially for the breast area, which should not be rubbed like this anymore. After pregnancy, breast tissue proliferates rapidly. You should treat the breasts gently, do not clean the nipples forcefully, and do not rub the nipple openings hard, so as to avoid milk leakage during breastfeeding.

3. If you experience abdominal discomfort or uterine contractions, stop breast care immediately and see a doctor as soon as possible. Pregnant women with habitual miscarriage should not do breast care and nipple maintenance on their own