{"id":102965,"date":"2017-04-19T06:19:24","date_gmt":"2017-04-19T10:19:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.oviahealth.com\/guide\/102965\/fertility-symptoms-leaking-breasts\/"},"modified":"2022-03-11T17:30:39","modified_gmt":"2022-03-11T22:30:39","slug":"fertility-symptoms-leaking-breasts","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/102965\/fertility-symptoms-leaking-breasts\/","title":{"rendered":"Leaking breasts: What it is and why it happens"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s common for women who are breastfeeding to experience leaky breasts. Many expectant women, particularly during the third trimester, will notice their breasts leaking a yellowish milky substance called colostrum, which will make up a baby\u2019s first few meals.<\/p>\n

What causes it?<\/h2>\n

Women who aren’t pregnant or breastfeeding<\/a> don’t typically experience leaking breasts. For an expecting mom-to-be, as pregnancy draws to a close, her body needs to make sure that all of its systems are up and running prior to delivery. Colostrum is the substance that will make up a baby\u2019s first meals, so leaky breasts are simply the body\u2019s way of checking that milk production will be all set to go when it needs to be. Breasts may leak during the postpartum period as well due to milk production.<\/p>\n

Tips?<\/h3>\n

There is nothing that women can do to stop leaking colostrum, but because generally only a few drops seep out, this is an easier symptom to manage than most. Women can wear a nursing pad in their bra, and avoid wearing any tops that may get stained.<\/p>\n

\n
Sources<\/h5>\n
    \n
  • “How Can I Deal with My Leaking Breasts?” LLLI<\/em>. La Leche League International, Jan 2016. Web.<\/li>\n
  • Mayo Clinic Staff. “Nipple discharge: Causes” MayoClinic<\/em>. Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, Dec 2016. Web.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Leaking breasts are an unwelcome interruption in most situations. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":222993,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ovia_author_name":"","ovia_author_prefix":"","ovia_author_image":"","ovia_content_type_id":"175","ovia_product_mode":"3","ovia_days_from_signup":"","ovia_days_from_lmp":"","ovia_days_from_baby_birth":"","ovia_days_from_enroll":"","ovia_health_module_days_from":"","ovia_article_for_email_days_from":"","ovia_health_module":"","ovia_legacy_id2":"","ovia_ttc":"","ovia_article_subtype":"","ovia_health_symptom":"","ovia_partner_id":"","ovia_partner_custom_group":"","ovia_legacy_category":"","ovia_legacy_category2":"","ovia_content_url_id":"102965","ovia_include_share_buttons":"","ovia_fertility_goal":"","ovia_secondary_module":"","ovia_trimester":"","ovia_child_age":"","ovia_share_image":"","ovia_more_menu_image":"","ovia_button1_url":"","ovia_days_from_postpartum":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"fert-category":[],"preg-category":[60,49,58,78,56,53],"parent-category":[],"fert-tag":[],"preg-tag":[256,272],"parent-tag":[],"class_list":["post-102965","article","type-article","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","preg-category-body-changes-during-pregnancy","preg-category-pregnancy-by-week","preg-category-pregnancy-symptoms","preg-category-preparing-to-breastfeed","preg-category-staying-healthy-while-pregnant","preg-category-third-trimester","preg-tag-28-42-weeks-pregnant","preg-tag-pregnancy-pains"],"yoast_head":"\nLearn about leaking breasts | Causes and prevention<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What causes leaking breasts? Typically, a symptom of pregnancy, read on to learn more about what it is, causes, and symptoms.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/102965\/fertility-symptoms-leaking-breasts\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Learn about leaking breasts | Causes and prevention\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What causes leaking breasts? Typically, a symptom of pregnancy, read on to learn more about what it is, causes, and symptoms.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/102965\/fertility-symptoms-leaking-breasts\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ovia Health\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/OviaHealth\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-03-11T22:30:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/article_102965.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@OviaHealth\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/102965\/fertility-symptoms-leaking-breasts\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/102965\/fertility-symptoms-leaking-breasts\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"CMS Development\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f9b5f7682c13698a36c91cb68d9233ec\"},\"headline\":\"Leaking breasts: What it is and why it happens\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-04-19T10:19:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-03-11T22:30:39+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/102965\/fertility-symptoms-leaking-breasts\/\"},\"wordCount\":225,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/102965\/fertility-symptoms-leaking-breasts\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/article_102965.png\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/102965\/fertility-symptoms-leaking-breasts\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/102965\/fertility-symptoms-leaking-breasts\/\",\"name\":\"Learn about leaking breasts | Causes and prevention\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/102965\/fertility-symptoms-leaking-breasts\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/102965\/fertility-symptoms-leaking-breasts\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/article_102965.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-04-19T10:19:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-03-11T22:30:39+00:00\",\"description\":\"What causes leaking breasts? Typically, a symptom of pregnancy, read on to learn more about what it is, causes, and symptoms.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/102965\/fertility-symptoms-leaking-breasts\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/102965\/fertility-symptoms-leaking-breasts\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/102965\/fertility-symptoms-leaking-breasts\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/article_102965.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/article_102965.png\",\"width\":600,\"height\":400,\"caption\":\"Image of health symbol, the caduceus.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/102965\/fertility-symptoms-leaking-breasts\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Articles\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/%post_id%\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Leaking breasts: What it is and why it happens\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/\",\"name\":\"Ovia Health\",\"description\":\"Digital health personalized for every family journey\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Ovia Health\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/ovia-health.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/ovia-health.png\",\"width\":507,\"height\":112,\"caption\":\"Ovia Health\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/OviaHealth\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/OviaHealth\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/oviahealth\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/ovia-health\",\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/oviahealth\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCMoD1d6OFnq8WupiRZrUO3Q\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f9b5f7682c13698a36c91cb68d9233ec\",\"name\":\"CMS Development\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bc868ff4c62546c8ac0386ecfb388f18a56539ce6b1fdc6e30ee3e15477e6bbc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bc868ff4c62546c8ac0386ecfb388f18a56539ce6b1fdc6e30ee3e15477e6bbc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"CMS Development\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/wp.oviahealth.com\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Learn about leaking breasts | Causes and prevention","description":"What causes leaking breasts? Typically, a symptom of pregnancy, read on to learn more about what it is, causes, and symptoms.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/102965\/fertility-symptoms-leaking-breasts\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Learn about leaking breasts | Causes and prevention","og_description":"What causes leaking breasts? Typically, a symptom of pregnancy, read on to learn more about what it is, causes, and symptoms.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/102965\/fertility-symptoms-leaking-breasts\/","og_site_name":"Ovia Health","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/OviaHealth","article_modified_time":"2022-03-11T22:30:39+00:00","og_image":[{"width":600,"height":400,"url":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/article_102965.png","type":"image\/png"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@OviaHealth","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/102965\/fertility-symptoms-leaking-breasts\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/102965\/fertility-symptoms-leaking-breasts\/"},"author":{"name":"CMS Development","@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f9b5f7682c13698a36c91cb68d9233ec"},"headline":"Leaking breasts: What it is and why it happens","datePublished":"2017-04-19T10:19:24+00:00","dateModified":"2022-03-11T22:30:39+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/102965\/fertility-symptoms-leaking-breasts\/"},"wordCount":225,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/102965\/fertility-symptoms-leaking-breasts\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/article_102965.png","inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/102965\/fertility-symptoms-leaking-breasts\/","url":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/102965\/fertility-symptoms-leaking-breasts\/","name":"Learn about leaking breasts | Causes and prevention","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/102965\/fertility-symptoms-leaking-breasts\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/102965\/fertility-symptoms-leaking-breasts\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/article_102965.png","datePublished":"2017-04-19T10:19:24+00:00","dateModified":"2022-03-11T22:30:39+00:00","description":"What causes leaking breasts? Typically, a symptom of pregnancy, read on to learn more about what it is, causes, and symptoms.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/102965\/fertility-symptoms-leaking-breasts\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/102965\/fertility-symptoms-leaking-breasts\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/102965\/fertility-symptoms-leaking-breasts\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/article_102965.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/article_102965.png","width":600,"height":400,"caption":"Image of health symbol, the caduceus."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/102965\/fertility-symptoms-leaking-breasts\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Articles","item":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/%post_id%\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Leaking breasts: What it is and why it happens"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/","name":"Ovia Health","description":"Digital health personalized for every family journey","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#organization","name":"Ovia Health","url":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/ovia-health.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/ovia-health.png","width":507,"height":112,"caption":"Ovia Health"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/OviaHealth","https:\/\/x.com\/OviaHealth","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/oviahealth","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/ovia-health","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/oviahealth","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCMoD1d6OFnq8WupiRZrUO3Q"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f9b5f7682c13698a36c91cb68d9233ec","name":"CMS Development","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bc868ff4c62546c8ac0386ecfb388f18a56539ce6b1fdc6e30ee3e15477e6bbc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bc868ff4c62546c8ac0386ecfb388f18a56539ce6b1fdc6e30ee3e15477e6bbc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"CMS Development"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/wp.oviahealth.com"]}]}},"lang":"en","translations":{"en":102965,"es":222994},"pll_sync_post":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/102965","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/102965\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":253218,"href":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/102965\/revisions\/253218"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/222993"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"fert-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fert-category?post=102965"},{"taxonomy":"preg-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/preg-category?post=102965"},{"taxonomy":"parent-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/parent-category?post=102965"},{"taxonomy":"fert-tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fert-tag?post=102965"},{"taxonomy":"preg-tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/preg-tag?post=102965"},{"taxonomy":"parent-tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/parent-tag?post=102965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}