Hi everyone my name is il Co I'm a registered Midwife and childbirth education instructor I practice Midwifery in a large Urban setting in Canada and I'm the mom to two lovely children I really enjoy educating families throughout the prenatal period the birth and in the postpartum in today's video we're going to talk about breast changes and the composition of milk let's get started throughout the pregnancy you will notice some changes to your breasts generally we see an increase in the tissue and growth of the breast itself changing the pigmentation and size of the areola they do get a little bit darker and the way that the breast sits on your body we have our rib cage and the muscle layer fatty tissue and that does increase during the pregnancy as well milk ducts that run towards the back of the breasts and work their way towards the front of the areola collect and then are released almost like a fancy shower head with multiple openings an interesting fact you require an extra 3 to 500 calories per day when breast or chestfeeding because it takes a tremendous mendous amount of energy to produce that milk for your baby so make sure you're minding your nutrition and your hydration next we're going to talk about the differences in breast milk so we have two stages of breast milk the first is the earliest milk your body makes for your baby and it's called colostrum it is quite thick and dense and a small quantity rich in fats and antibodies and just what your baby needs remember baby's tummy is very small at this stage so a small quantity will do the second stage is breast milk and the composition of that milk can change daytoday depending on your baby's particular needs at that time your breast milk will go through three distinct stages in the first stage we see colostrum or liquid gold it tends to have a clearish yellow tined color maybe a little more cream or orange mixed in and it's quite dense and thick filled with nutrients antibodies and everything your baby needs at this stage it's also present in the body during pregnancy in stage two which usually happens around day three to 4 up to 2 weeks we are transitioning from col Ostrum to full mature milk this is known as transitional milk in this stage the volume increases and you may notice some firmness and density and heaviness to the breasts as well in stage three we transition to more mature full milk this happens around day 10 up to day 15 so towards that second week of life this milk is the perfect combination of water fat protein and nutrients and contains everything your baby needs at this stage you may notice that your breasts are a little softer not quite as firm and full as the transitional stage a couple of interesting facts about your breastfeeding Journey did you know that in 24 hours your body produces somewhere between 500 mlit to 1 L of breast milk and the composition changes depending on your environment and climate we also respond to viruses and illnesses in the community by creating antibodies and passing them through the breast milk to our babies this helps protect baby there are two m main hormones involved in milk production the first is oxytocin this one is sort of like turning the tap on at the sink and responsible for the flow of the milk as baby sucks at the breast it stimulates our body to release the oxytocin and then contract around the muscles of the breast to squeeze the milk out this is what's called your let down and some moms will feel little tingling or pins and needle sensation as this happens the oxytocin release during feeding can also cause uterine contractions after delivery which may lead to cramping during your first few days of feeding prolactin on the other hand is mainly responsible for the quantity of milk or your supply prolactin increases when baby is skin to skin immediately after birth which is why we recommend it so highly and why we try to have that first feed in the golden hour immediately after baby's born prolactin decreases in the evening time which is why babies can be quite fussy and want to feed very very frequently in the evenings that brings us to the end of this video we have a lot more videos in this series so please be sure to check those out take care and we'll see you soon