Introduction
The anatomy of breasts in males and females is slightly different. The breast is a granular organ located on the chest. It is made up of fat, breast tissue, and connective tissue. The breast tissues contain glands and ducts that make milk. The breast is also called the mammary gland. Nipples and areolae are part of the breast that is clinically visible. Many conditions affect breast anatomy; one of those is breast cancer. Breast cancer is a common threat in women's life. Both males and females are affected by breast cancer, which is more prone in females. Female breasts produce milk which is the perfect food for the child. Breast milk is the most precious thing a mother can give their children; breastfeeding can be successful with many tips.
What Does the Breast Contain?
Many tissues form the female breast. The breast is made up of glandular tissue, fatty tissue, and fibrous tissue.
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Glandular Tissue: Granular tissue contains breast lobes and ducts. These breast lobes and ducts are responsible for milk production.
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Fibrous Tissue: Fibrous connective tissue holds breast lobes, ducts, and fatty tissues in place.
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Fatty Tissues: Fatty tissues fill the spaces between lobules and ducts, and they determine the size of the breast.
What Are the Parts of the Breast?
The parts of the breast are lobes, lobules, milk ducts, nipples, areolae, nerves, blood vessels, and lymph nodes.
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Lobes: Each breast contains 15 to 20 sections. These sections are called lobes, arranged like the daisy flower's petals.
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Lobules: many small structures found on each lobe are called lobules. These lobules are said a glandular tissue of the breast. Each lobule contains a bulblike gland at its end responsible for milk production.
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Milk Ducts: The thin tube which links lobes and lobules are called ducts. These ducts are responsible for carrying milk from lobules to nipples.
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Nipples: The nipples are located at the center of the areolae. It contains about nine milk ducts, and also it contains nerves.
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Areolae: The nipple is surrounded by a circular dark colored area of skin called areolae. The areolae contain a gland that secretes lubricating oil, which helps in protecting nipples and surrounding skin from soreness during breastfeeding.
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Lymph Nodes: Lymph nodes of the breast are found under the armpits, chest, neck, and other places. These lymph nodes are responsible for fighting infections that affect the breast. Lymph nodes are the bean-shaped organ that produces a colorless fluid known as lymph. The fluid lymph contains white blood cells called lymphocytes. Lymphocytes are the immune cells that defend against infections and diseases like cancer. The lymph vessels carry lymph fluid to the lymph nodes.
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Blood Vessels: Blood vessels supply blood throughout the breast and chest.
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Nerves: Hundreds of nerve endings are found in nipples. These nerve endings are responsible for breast sensitivity to touch and sexual arousal.
How Do Breasts Work for Breastfeeding?
The hormones like estrogen, progesterone, and prolactin are female hormones. These hormones play an important role in breast function and development.
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Estrogen: Estrogen is responsible for stretching milk ducts and helping them create many branches to make more milk.
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Progesterone: Progesterone is responsible for increasing the number and size of lobules for breastfeeding. These hormones make the blood vessels and breast cells enlarge during ovulation; thus, it makes the mothers experience tender and swollen breasts.
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Prolactin: Prolactin stimulates the production of progesterone, which prepares the glands for breast milk production.
What Happens in Male Breasts?
The above-described breast anatomy is for female breasts. The parts of the male breast are similar. It differs only in its functions. During puberty, the male hormone testosterone stops the breast from developing further. Nipples and areolae are found outside the body in male breasts. Male breasts do not have glandular tissues, and their milk ducts are undeveloped. Even though the male breasts do not function, they also cause some medical conditions like gynecomastia(a benign condition that makes the breast enlarge) and rarely breast cancer.
What Is Meant by Dense Breast?
Breasts made with more glandular and connective tissue, and less fatty tissue is known as dense breast. The dense breast does not mean its relation with the breast's size, feel and look.
It is difficult for the physician to diagnose dense breast and breast cancer as both appear white on a mammogram. Mammography is the process of examining human breasts using low-energy X-rays. Females with dense breasts have higher risks for breast cancer.
Breastfeeding Success
One can attain breastfeeding success by making the mothers understand the uses of breast milk and breastfeeding.
Why Should a Mother Breastfeed a Child?
The child gets all the nutrition needed in the first six months of life and up to one year and beyond from breast milk. In addition, breast milk protects the child from infections, medical conditions, and allergies.
What Are the Benefits of Breastfeeding?
Both mothers and children are benefited from breastfeeding. The benefits for infants are breast milk serves as a good food for a child's growth and development; it protects children from various infections such as respiratory tract infections, ear infections, gastrointestinal infections, diabetes, allergies, and other diseases. In addition, breast milk helps reduce the risks of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome(SIDS).
The benefits for the mothers are it reduces the risk of ovarian and breast cancer, helps mothers to get to their pre-pregnancy weight, and helps reduce the risk of bleeding after delivery.
Breastfeeding builds the emotional and physical bond between mothers and infants throughout their lives.
Tips for Successful Breastfeeding
Some of the tips which lead to successful breastfeeding are:
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Staying Together After Delivery - Mothers need to stay with their children after birth as it gives closeness and hormonal changes in the mother that are linked to breastfeeding, irrespective of the type of delivery.
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Breastfeed Position and Correct Latching - It is important to get the correct breastfeed position and latch within the first few days of birth, as the breast may feel soft during the first few days due to the colostrum. Later, the breast may become full due to the mature milk making it difficult for the children to latch.
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Being Patient - Being patient while breastfeeding is most important as children and mothers get frustrated during breastfeeding due to difficulties they face in the initial stages.
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Feeding On Demand - Frequency and effective feeding make more milk production. Feed the child whenever the child needs it.
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Mandatory Feeding for the First Six Months - It is important to breastfeed the child for the first six months mandatorily as it needs to get all the nutritional values of the breast milk.
Conclusion
Understanding the intricacies of breast anatomy is crucial for breastfeeding success. Following appropriate tips for breastfeeding may help mothers to achieve success in the breastfeeding journey. Knowing the benefits of breastfeeding may motivate mothers to improve their breastfeeding journey.
