Together with Rethink Breast Cancer we are working with your nanny community to increase breast health awareness.  Many of you fall within a group of women who, because of your age (many of you are under 40) and your cultural background, have little information about breast health.  Our goal is to change this!

Every woman and man should know the risk factors, signs and symptoms and established detection guidelines for breast cancer.

Here’s a great first step –

Show your breasts some TLC: Touch. Look. Check.

There is no need to follow a fancy routine for examining your breasts, just be familiar with how they look and feel so that you notice changes.

Touch your breasts and feel for anything unusual. Lookfor changes and be aware of shape and texture. Check anything unusual with your doctor.

You can do this by looking and feeling in any way that makes you feel comfortable - in the bath or shower, when dressing, standing or lying down.

Changes to look out for include:

Size or shape – e.g. one breast may become larger or lower than the other
Skin Texture – such as puckering or dimpling of the skin like an orange peel
Appearance or direction of nipple – e.g. one nipple might become inverted (turned in)
Discharge – one or both nipples may discharge a blood stained liquid
Rash or crusting of the nipple or surrounding area
Lump in the breast or armpit
Lumpy area or unusual thickening of breast tissue that doesn’t go away after a woman’s period
Pain in part of the breast or armpit that is unrelated to periods

If you find anything unusual or are worried, you should talk to your doctor.

Remember that nine out ten breast lumps are not cancerous.

For more information about breast cancer and prevention go to


http://www.rethinkbreastcancer.com/breast_cancer_prevention.html