When does areoles darken?

[Iris10000]

Hi all. It’s my first baby and I really don’t know what’s normal. Dr Google is being extremely unhelpful. I’ve read that nipples and areoles darken around 12 weeks but I am 18 weeks and only had some boob soreness in the first trimester but no growth or nipple size/colour changes since. I am cup A and really worried I am one of these women that will never produce milk. Is that possible 😞

No matter what size your breast are, you will still produce enough milk don't worry x

The one piece of advice I can give is to not compare yourself against anything you read online.
Every woman is different, some women’s don’t really darken at all. Some darken earlier than 12 weeks, some later. Some never!
You’re only 18 weeks, you still have over half your pregnancy left! Don’t worry about milk!

I'm 25 weeks now and would say they only darkened in the last 3-4 weeks. I think you have to take Google with a pinch of salt, not everything happens bang on time for everyone.

I wouldn't worry at all. Mine didn't darken and are small and I'm still BFing my 18 month old with no complaints so far!

Mine never darkened, not with any of my three babies.

I agree with PPs that you really don't need to worry about milk yet. Some people's comes in before the baby arrives, mine didn't till they were born. Colostrum first, then the actual milk on about day three.

Mine didn’t darken til shortly before birth and then only slightly. Heaps of milk.

I don't think mine ever darkened and I have tiny breasts but I still made enough milk to feed both my babies, both very hungry and chunky too! The best way to stimulate milk is to do skin to skin and put your baby to the breast as soon as possible after the birth. And then offer boob lots. I had an emergency Caesarean under general anaesthetic and was out of it for ages but I still managed to establish breastfeeding though it took a few days for my milk to come in. You will probably be fine, don't worry x

I no think it depends on the shade, I have a friends who as are brownish in colour and hers went super dark. Mine are a light pink and never changed colour. I also produced lots of milk, I could pump 9oz in the morning if baby hadn’t fed much 🤣

Lucky u if they haven’t darkened 😜 mines are like chocolate buttons the large ones ha ha x

Another one whose nipples didn't darken. Plenty of milk for 3DC, as did my DM who fed 4 of us with her AA boobs.

Mine didn't darken. I had no trouble breastfeeding.

My nipples didn't darken and my boobs didn't change size. I was a small B pre-pregnancy, small B throughout pregnancy and when my milk came in I went to a normal B cup, but after a feed back to small B! I breastfed for a year. I was so gutted I didn't get the big boobs I'd been promised!

Never?

Thank you for all your messages, very reassuring. I should stop Googling and start enjoying my pregnancy!

This is my third pregnancy, 1st pregnancy, they darkened around 25 weeks, Second, It never went past 21 weeks but after I gave birth, milk came in again! and now I'm 35 weeks and my aerola noticeably darkened last week!

It varies! :)

Never darkened here. Breast size doesn’t correlate to milk volume/production.

Plus, band size affects bust volume, so every A cup is different. For example, someone wearing a 38A can have a similar bust volumes to someone wearing a 28E/F. I have small breasts too (to the extent that I don’t really need a bra and don’t wear a sports bra for exercise) but when I wear one I wear a DD cup.