Seen while browsing, perhaps pertinent to several recent posts:

  Arch Phys Med Rehabil. <javascript:AL_get(this, 'jour', 'Arch Phys Med
Rehabil.');> 2005 Jun;86(6):1261-4. Related
Articles,<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Display&dopt=pubmed_pubmed&from_uid=15954070>
Links <javascript:PopUpMenu2_Set(Menu15954070);> [image: Click here to
read]<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/utils/lofref.fcgi?PrId=3048&uid=15954070&db=pubmed&url=http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0003999304014820>

*Psychogenic and pharmacologic induction of the let-down reflex can
facilitate breastfeeding by tetraplegic women: a report of 3 cases.*

*Cowley KC*<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Search&itool=pubmed_Abstract&term=%22Cowley+KC%22%5BAuthor%5D>
.

Department of Physiology, Spinal Cord Research Centre, Faculty of Medicine,
University of Manitoba, 730 William Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3E 3J7,
Canada. [log in to unmask]

Although an increasing number of women are becoming pregnant and rearing
children after spinal cord injury (SCI), scant literature exists on
breastfeeding after injury. In particular, it is unclear whether women with
SCI above T7 can sustain breastfeeding in a manner similar to neurologically
intact nursing mothers. A functional let-down reflex is required to provide
adequate milk to a nursing infant. Infant suckling activates tactile
receptors in the breast, and this signal is carried via afferent nerves in
the T4-6 dorsal roots to the spinal cord and then to neurons in the
hypothalamus, which release oxytocin into the bloodstream. Oxytocin triggers
milk ejection from the breast. Suckling-induced afferent stimuli are absent
in women with SCI above T4 and are reduced if the injury is between T4 and
T6. This report describes the breastfeeding practices of 3 tetraplegic women
and shows that breastfeeding can be maintained for extended periods (12-54
wk) after delivery. Two women required active mental imaging and relaxation
techniques, or oxytocin nasal spray, to facilitate the let-down reflex.
These findings suggest that although an absence of suckling-induced afferent
stimuli may impair the let-down reflex, long-term breastfeeding can be
maintained.

Publication Types:

   - Case Reports <javascript:AL_get(this, 'ptyp', 'Case Reports');>


PMID: 15954070 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
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