Breasts

Breasts, boobs, tits, baps, knockers, melons or jugs, whatever you choose to call them, sometimes it seems like the world is obsessed by them.

It's important to remember that natural boobs come in all shapes and sizes. So, don't be alarmed if yours don't look like a page 3 girl or a porn star. Most women's breasts don't look like that. As well as producing milk for babies breasts are an erogenous zone too. So when the area around your nipples is touched it can feel really good, whatever their size or shape.

Have a look here for more information about breasts, but if you have any other questions, call Ask Brook on 0808 802 1234. Your call will be confidential. That means we won't tell anyone about it.

When do breasts develop?

A lot of girls first start to notice changes in their chest between the ages of 10 and 14, but it can happen earlier or later than this.

First of all, your nipples and your areola - the part of skin that surrounds the nipple - will begin to swell, so it looks like you have small buds.

A few years later, your breasts start to develop into a more adult shape, with your nipples and areola swelling even more. You may notice some tenderness and soreness as your breasts grow.

It can take up to 5 years in total, before your boobs reach their full size.

Nipples

Nipples may be darker or paler than the rest of your skin and lots of women have hair growing around them. The area around your nipples (areola) may be large or small. This is all normal.

Most women's nipples stick out a few millimetres. You might notice this change during puberty. Other women have flat nipples; although they can stick out a tiny bit when they're feeling cold or sexually excited.

There are so many different ways that nipples can look. They can be flat, very pointy, bumpy, or look like a dimple, or a total "innie", and loads of women have inverted nipples. All variations are perfectly normal.

Too big or too small?

Many girls and young women wish their breasts were a different size.

Many girls with bigger breasts can feel self-conscious or feel like their breasts are always getting in the way. While others with big boobs feel really sexy and love their body how it is.

Girls with smaller breasts may also feel self-conscious and wish that their breasts were more noticable, or they may love them and enjoy the fact that they can wear pretty bras and vests

The important thing is not to feel low about the way your body looks. At the end of the day, how you feel inside is much more important than the size of your breasts and feeling attractive has more to do with confidence than body parts.

Some women choose to wear bras or other clothes that make their boobs look good. You could always try out some different bras or tops to see what makes you feel more confident.

A lot of young women find that one breast develops faster than the other. Breasts can keep developing until the age of 18, so they may eventually end up the same size.

However, many adult women do have breasts that are slightly different sizes. To reassure you, it is very common for women to have one boob that is slighter bigger than the other boob.