Breasts--your mom has them, your grandma has them and everywhere you look, you see grown women with them. You may have noticed that breasts get a lot of attention in advertisements, but they serve a much more important function than decoration: they allow a woman to feed a baby. During puberty, you can expect your own breasts to develop, but you might have some questions about when you will get them and what normal breasts should look or feel like.
Onset of Growth
A girl's breasts may start to grow as early as age 8 or as far down the line as age 13, says the Nemours Foundation. Even so, some girls develop faster than others, meaning that if you started developing breasts early, you may still be developing when your friends' breasts have already stopped growing. All girls start to develop breasts in the same way, regardless of when development began. Their ovaries enlarge and a female hormone called estrogen starts to circulate throughout their bodies, which ultimately forms small raised lumps on the chest known as breast buds. At the same time, the dark skin around the nipple gets larger, says the Ohio State University Medical Center.
Development
After breast buds have formed and around the time girls start their first period, their breast tissue eventually enlarges from the development of glands and fat. Next, breasts may change in shape rather than size, and the nipple and dark area around it stand above the rest of the breast, according to TeenGrowth.com. In the last stage of breast development---typically at about age 17 or 18, but sometimes in a woman's early 20s---breasts round out until only the nipples are raised.
Shapes and Sizes
Once breasts are fully developed, they don't all look the same. Heredity and weight are big factors that determine a teen's breast size. If, for example, your mother has smaller breasts and you are thin, you are less likely to have large breasts than your rounder friend whose mother has large breasts, according to the Nemours Foundation. Contrary to what some of your friends and television commercials say, you can't alter the size of your breasts by taking any pills or spreading on any creams.
Considerations
Your breasts may not develop the way you want them to, says PBSKids.org. For example, one may grow faster than the other--even though they'll likely even out over time---and they may become pointy before they become round and full. You may also feel weird changes like lumps and tenderness at different times, but most of the time that's normal, says PBSKids.org. Talking to a parent or doctor can help calm any concerns you may have.
Bras
Wearing a bra can help protect your breast tissue, keep your breasts supported and smooth out your silhouette, says the Nemours Foundation. You can buy a wide variety of bras, including sports bras for when you're exercising, underwire bras for extra support, natural soft-cup bras for comfort, padded bras for extra size and minimizer bras for size reduction, says the Nemours Foundation. Talk to a lingerie department employee at your local department store to be sure that you buy a bra that is right for your breast size.
