{"product_id":"taking-care-of-your-girls-isbn-9780307406965","title":"Taking Care of Your Girls","description":"\u003cb\u003eThe real facts about your “girls” and how to take care of them\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e“This all-in-one, indispensable breast health guide captures exactly what teen girls and their moms really need: practical, easy-to-read, great advice. It’s one of the best gifts you can give to your girl.”—Harvey Karp, M.D., F.A.A.P., author of \u003ci\u003eThe Happiest Toddler on the Block\u003c\/i\u003e, board member of Healthy Child, Healthy World\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGirls are as anxious and confused about their breasts as ever. That’ s why Marisa Weiss, M.D., an oncologist and breast health specialist, and her teenage daughter, Isabel, decided to create \u003ci\u003eTaking Care of Your “Girls.”\u003c\/i\u003e Together, they polled more than three thousand girls and their moms and came up with a surprisingly huge list of worries and misconceptions. Based on their research, you’ll get answers to questions like:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e• How do I know when I need to get my first bra—and what kind should I get?\u003cbr\u003e• Do big breasts have a higher risk of breast cancer than small ones?\u003cbr\u003e• How do I get rid of stretch marks?\u003cbr\u003e• When will my breasts stop growing?\u003cbr\u003e• How do I examine my own breasts?\u003cbr\u003e• Will the size of my breasts even out?\u003cbr\u003e• Do tanning, antiperspirants, wearing a bra at night, and talking on a cell phone cause breast cancer?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA groundbreaking book for both mothers and daughters, \u003ci\u003eTaking Care of Your “Girls”\u003c\/i\u003e is a practical guide to breast care and a girl-to-girl conversation about the feelings and emotions that come with the territory.MARISA C. WEISS, M.D., is the president and founder of Breastcancer.org. She currently practices at Lankenau Hospital in the Philadelphia area, where she serves as Director of Breast Radiation Oncology and Director of Breast Health Outreach. Her daughter, ISABEL FRIEDMAN, is a college student at the University of Pennsylvania, who recently graduated from Friends’ Central School in the Philadelphia area and was an assistant teacher at the Children’s School of Science in Woods Hole, Massachusetts.\u003cb\u003e1\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBreast Development:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHormones, Puffy Nipples, Growing Breasts\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThere were times I would pray to God, “I will do anything you like, I will do everything my parents say, but I do not want boobs!” It was awful starting to develop. You don’t know what’ s going to happen next. And I just wanted to return back to the life I knew without all these problems.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eKelly, 13\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI would rather talk to my older sister about my breast development than my parents. She ?doesn’t ask me five hundred follow-up questions.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSara, 12\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI can tell you, every night—even when I was 11, and my girlfriends were kind of starting to get their period then, starting to develop something, I can remember—I was raised Catholic—I would pray: “Our Father, God bless Mommy, Dad, Mickey, Chrissie, Casey, Kansas”—who was my brother’s dog—“and please God, let me wake up tomorrow with some boobs.” That was the prayer. I can tell you exactly what it was because I spent years saying it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLizzie, 18\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI knew a lot more about growing breasts than other people. And I was talking with a friend when a mother who was listening in asked, “How do you know all this?” I guess because I grew up the baby in my family, so I was learning about breast development and breast cancer from everybody older than me.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMary Jane, 14\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWell, all my friends think they will never have breasts. And it’s not funny—because a lot of girls feel this way.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSara, 13\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI wished we had the talk about breast development before it occurred, not when the breasts first started to appear. We had the menstrual talk, but somehow breasts were left out.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eElena, 12\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAt my aunt’s house, I pulled my mom aside to privately tell her that my boobs all of a sudden had started hurting. She said, “Ohhhh, you’re growing breasts,” and then she turned around and told my aunt everything I had just said.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAlexandra, 11\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGirls in my school must get changed in the main room for gym class. At first some girls tried to sneak off and change in the bathroom, but the teachers caught them and made them change with everyone else. Now we’re all used to it. We have no choice.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSusanna, 12\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI started developing before everybody else. Between fifth and sixth grade I grew boobs and grew about six inches taller. It was ridiculous: I was so out of proportion.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSasha, 18\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen I was seven, I liked the whole idea of having boobs because everybody had them. Me and my friends would try on my mom’s bra and laugh about it. We ?didn’t really understand. I guess I thought that one day I’d just wake up and everything would be different. Only later did I realize how awkward the growing-up part would be.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLena, 14\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen I first got breasts, no one knew because I wore so many layers. A big T-shirt and a sweatshirt were the perfect solution. I was against even owning a bra. I ?wouldn’t talk about it with my mom or anybody—and when the words came up I just pretended not to hear. My friends and I pretended we were disgusted by the whole idea of a bra, even though secretly we knew we needed one.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEmily, 15\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLater, when I started high school, I was thinking that it’s a lot more normal to have breasts there and I wanted to fit in and have fun— so I should just embrace it. But even so, I am still uncomfortable with them.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMegan, 17\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe first things that changed about my body when my breasts started to grow were my nipples. They got so puffy I had to wear a tight camisole under my clothes to flatten them down.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eKatie, 16\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen my breasts began growing, they started showing through my shirts. I went through great lengths to hide them. I’d even use tape.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLena, 14\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e[Breasts can even be an issue for boys, as this quote shows!] Our basketball team needed to practice some drills, so the coach divided our team in half: shirts versus skins. I was praying that I would be on the shirt team so no one would tease me about my, um, breasts. But no, of course that didn’t happen. The coach put me on the skins team and ordered me to take off my shirt—but I pretended not to hear. Then he started yelling at me, “Take off your shirt!” I was horrified— completely embarrassed from my head down to my toes. Still I kept my shirt on. There was no way I was going to take off my shirt.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBen, 16\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFirst Things First\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eYou know how when you’re driving down the highway things pass by so fast, it can all look like a blur? Well, that’ s what breast development can feel like if you are a fast bloomer. And have you ever been stuck on the side of the road while other cars whiz by you? That’s what growing breasts can feel like if you’re developing slowly. Plus there are a lot of feelings rolled in: excitement, frustration, curiosity, embarrassment, discomfort, fun, confusion, fear, and hope.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eKnowing what to expect will make you feel better and less uncertain. Knowledge really is power. This chapter will give you a “road map” that will help you understand and keep track of your own unique breast development.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eHere’s the Scoop\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBreast development requires many steps and takes a bunch of twists and turns, starting inside your mom’s uterus, making the greatest progress during puberty, then adding the finishing touches after high school. Let’s tackle each step along the way.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eIn Your Mom’s Uterus\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBreast growth starts when you are barely three weeks—when you’re just a tiny ball of cells called an embryo. Two little ridges of special tissue, called mammary ridges, form on top of your skin between your armpits and your thighs.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe ridges look like two stretched-out letter Cs, lying back to back. Weeks later, they all but disappear except for a small area on each side of your chest. Then, over the last six months of pregnancy, the leftover mammary ridge cells get to work making the very beginnings of your breasts.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFirst mammary ridge cells build up on top of the skin to form the nipples and the areolas. A nipple is the peak in the center of your breast, while the areola is the round, somewhat darker bumpy skin around the base of the nipple. A small pit or dent forms in the middle of the nipple, like the hole in the middle of a volcano. (Milk comes out of this opening during breast-feeding, sort of like a sprinkler or shower head.)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhile nipple “construction” is under way, other mammary ridge cells dip beneath the surface to create the breast bud—the smallest and simplest version of the breast gland (milk-making “factory” ). Little shoots sprout off the bud like little fingers on a hand. These fingers are the lobules, made up of milk-making cells. Next, pipes called ducts form between the lobules and the nipple. The ducts are responsible for draining the milk out to the opening in the middle of the nipple. At this stage of the game, the whole breast bud is tiny and too small to feel.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBreast Break\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBreast development takes a break between the day you’re born and the start of puberty. Your body has tons of other important work to do as you grow from a little baby into a young girl. It needs this “breast break” in order to grow taller and wider and to develop all of your other body parts.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePuberty\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSooner or later puberty rolls in—the time when your body changes from a girl’s into a young woman’s. A rise in the female hormones estrogen and progesterone gets the whole breast development show restarted. These hormones, made in your ovaries, travel to your breasts, delivering the message to get back to work.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe restarting of breast development is usually the first sign of puberty and the completion of your breast growth marks the end of puberty. All the other changes, like growing pubic hair, getting your period, getting taller, and having your hips get wider, happen in between.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Breast Bud Forms a Lump\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFirst, the breast bud behind each nipple gets bigger. It can feel like a little stone, pebble, blueberry, or grape. And it can be sensitive, tender, and sometimes painful.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe breast bud can appear in one breast for weeks or months before the bud on the other side starts to grow. One breast bud may be bigger than the other. They might blossom into breasts right away or hang around for a while before they go on to form breasts.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt’s very common for girls to worry about breast cancer when they feel a new lump that ?doesn’t go away—particularly when it’s only on one side. But all of these changes are normal. There’s no need to worry (Chapter 11 will give you a lot more information about this).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Nipples and Areolas Get Going\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRight after the breast buds start growing, the nipples and areolas get puffy, bigger, and darker. They can also feel itchy, painful, and more sensitive to the touch.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhile the breast bud can’t be seen, the puffy nipple\/areola combination can look like a big mosquito bite and show through your clothes. Puffy nipples or areolas are often the first sign of breast development that other people can see—making you feel very self-conscious—even before there is any breast tissue growth underneath.","brand":"Harmony","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46301265395941,"sku":"NP9780307406965","price":19.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780307406965.jpg?v=1767737737","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/taking-care-of-your-girls-isbn-9780307406965","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}