>the woman whose job situation was such that she was surrounded only by
>the thin walls of her cubicle to pump and so inhibited by what people
>might hear, that her milk was backing up and beginning to diminish
>because she couldn't get an MER at work!  (BTW, nipple rolling at my
>suggestion "almost flooded the pump"!)

Exactly! Hit the right spot, and it's not a matter of being relaxed, it's a
matter almost of reflex.  A pump is a one-size-fits-most, and some women
perhaps need more emotional connection to it for it to work.  You had her
override the need for relaxation simply by having her hit the right nerve
endings!

So I'm still inclined to say that *the right stimulation* is more important
than the right frame of mind, with the two corollaries that extreme stress
can override just about anything, and that either baby or pump, if not quite
doing the job, is going to require some emotional input to compensate.

(Are we more likely to have our knee jerk in response to a hammer if we're
anticipating the hammer?  Seems possible.  Are we more likely to be able to
let down for a not-quite-right-position baby if we know that we're about to
feed?)

This is all supposition, of course, but it just feels better to me than the
"let-down is inherently unreliable" adage.
--
Diane Wiessinger, MS, IBCLC  Ithaca, NY
www.wiessinger.baka.com

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