1- You can’t really do anything to prepare your breasts for breastfeeding. Sorry. Unless you have inverted nipples, in which case you can start wearing “breast shells” which draw out your nipples.
2- Large areolas are a blessing, not a curse. If your areolas are too SMALL, then baby nurses outside of the areola and it feels like your breast is being ripped into pieces. One of my areolas is slightly unevenly sized and I have to latch my son onto that side in a way that avoids him over-latching. Large areolas are GOOD. I don’t know why a LC would tell you that. Ugh. An areola is basically the skin that baby is supposed to latch onto. They don’t have to take the entire thing into their mouth. It’s this great flexible area of stretchy/soft smooth skin. Baby only has to take about 1″ of the areola into their mouth. Your areola can take up your entire breast and it’s still not a problem. Large nipples can pose a bit of a challenge with a newborn, particularly a preemie. But large areolas? Not even a little bit of an issue.
