Regular breast examination should be performed before, during and after pregnancy.
Monthly breast self examination
Checking your breasts at least once a month allows you to be aware of your own breasts and therefore allows you to be highly sensitive to changes within the breasts, and hopefully to be able to detect new lumps early.
The hormonal changes of pregnancy tend to stimulate the growth of any existing breast lumps (both benign and cancerous ones) during pregnancy.
Practice on the breast model
In our clinic, we have a silicone breast model with lumps on one of the two sides where you can practise on with the nurse. Try and see if you can determine which side has the lump!
Clinical breast examination
In our clinic, this is done once usually at 16 weeks pregnancy, together with listening to the heart and lung sounds. Breast cancer is not more common during pregnancy when compared to before or after pregnancy. However, if breast cancer occurs during pregnancy, it tends to grow faster.