Breast Soreness: How to Care for Your Child

Breast soreness is very common and not usually a sign of a serious health problem. A well-fitting, supportive bra and pain medicines help most girls feel better.

• To relieve pain or soreness:

  • Applying ice or a heating pad wrapped in a towel to the area may help. Be careful not to hurt the skin — if it gets red, take a break from ice or heat.

  • Your child also can try gently massaging the area.

  • If your health care provider says it's OK, your child can take medicines like acetaminophen (Tylenol^® or a store brand) or ibuprofen (Advil^®, Motrin^®, or a store brand) as needed for pain. Follow the directions on the label for how much to take and how often.

• Wearing a bra with good support often helps. If breast pain happens during exercise, have your child try a sports bra. They can also try activities that are lower impact and place little to no stress on the chest, such as swimming, walking, yoga, or biking.

• Limiting the salt in your child's diet 1–2 weeks before the start of a menstrual period can help decrease breast swelling.

• Encourage your child to eat a healthy low-fat diet with plenty of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, and low-fat sources of calcium (such as skim milk and low-fat yogurt). Sometimes, cutting back on caffeine (found in coffee, tea, chocolate, and many sodas) also can help.

• Home treatment does not ease the pain.

• Pain gets worse or lasts longer than usual.

• Your child has a fever with no clear reason.

• There is discharge from one or both nipples.

• Pain spreads to other areas of the body.

The breast has warmth, redness, or streaking on the skin.

What can cause breast soreness? Soreness is common as breasts start to develop and just before menstrual periods. Changes in hormone levels signal the breast tissue to stretch or expand, which can lead to a sore or achy feeling. Large breasts can pull on the ligaments — the stretchy bands of tissue that connect the breasts to the chest to hold them up a bit. Breast soreness also can be a side effect of some medicines.

How is breast soreness treated? Wearing a well-fitting bra with good support and taking pain medicines usually are enough to ease breast pain. Sometimes, health care providers recommend starting birth control pills to reduce hormone changes that lead to breast soreness, or changing the brand or dose if the pills might be causing the soreness.