Chorevia

Day 163 of 280 · 23 weeks + 2 days

Leaking

Last reviewed · 2 min read · 9 sources · Plain-text version

Twenty-three weeks and two days. Your breasts may start leaking colostrum, an early milk. Today you put a few pads in a drawer and one in your bag.

Size this week
about the size of a large mango
Length this week
around 28.9 cm from head to heel
A woman with brown skin and a clear bump in a soft grey nursing-style top, folding laundry on a bed in morning light, a small open drawer beside her.

Twenty-three weeks and two days. Your body is already making the first food your baby will have, months early. Sometimes it shows, usually on a shirt at the wrong moment. Today is a small fix for that.

Your baby

One large ripe mango on a plain pale wooden table, soft window light.

Around 28.9cm long from head to heel, about the size of a large mango (NHS). Your baby is developing sleep and wake patterns (NHS), and by 24 weeks sleeps and wakes on a regular schedule (NICHD). You may start to notice the busy times and the quiet ones.

Your body

Your breasts may start leaking colostrum, an early form of milk (NHS). It can look like yellow stains in your bra; the NHS mentions those as early as 14 weeks and says they're probably colostrum, your first milk (NHS). Sore or leaky breasts are on the list of earlier symptoms that may carry on through these weeks (NHS).

The word the NHS uses is "may", so whether you leak now or not, don't read anything into it. After the birth, milk typically comes in three to six days after delivery, and breasts may leak and feel full even if you're not breastfeeding (OWH). So the pads you buy this week won't go to waste.

Try today

  1. The breast-pad drawer

    Time: 5 minutes, plus one shop

    1. Add a pack of breast pads to this week's shopping. Disposable or washable, whichever you'd actually use.

    2. Put a few in the top drawer, next to your bras, so they're there when you get dressed.

    3. Put one or two in the bag you carry every day, in a small pouch.

    4. Keep the rest of the pack. You'll want it again in the first week after the birth, when milk comes in (OWH).

    Make it work:

    A dark or patterned top is a fine backup on days you forget.

Watch for

  • Normal

    colostrum leaking from your breasts (NHS).

    Call your provider

    as soon as you can for fluid leaking from the vagina (OWH); vaginal bleeding or fluid leaking during pregnancy is on the CDC's urgent warning list (CDC).

  • Normal

    a little urine leaking when you cough or sneeze; Kegel exercises help (MedlinePlus).

    Call your provider

    for pain when you pee, or a change in the smell or colour of your urine, which may be a bladder infection (MedlinePlus).

  • Normal

    a white, milky vaginal discharge, which the NHS lists among the earlier symptoms (NHS).

    Call your provider

    if discharge has a foul smell or a greenish colour, or comes with itching or pain (MedlinePlus).

For you

Leaking anything can feel embarrassing in a body that's already doing a lot in public. It isn't a sign of anything going wrong; it's your body doing a job early (NHS).

If you're the partner: the pads go on the shopping list without a conversation about it. That's the whole job.

Sources

This guide is general education that summarizes published research and guidance from groups like the American Academy of Pediatrics, the CDC, and the WHO. It isn’t medical advice, and every child develops on their own timeline. Your pediatrician knows your child; if something feels wrong, call them. In an emergency, call 911.

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