For those of us still nursing there is nothing phantom about it!

For every mother I've spoken to, who is still nuring her baby, standing 
in line at the supermarket checkout with a newborn in the next aisle 
screaming it's head off for food and comfort brings only one response: a 
huge need to pick the baby up and comfort it whilst milk shoots out your 
breasts!  Thankfully, the milk shooting out tampers down over time for 
most of us, but I have a friend who is at 8 months, and she still floods 
milk when any baby is crying in active distress.

The overwhelming instinct to rush to the babe and pick it up, is harder 
to fend off, and leaves me feeling jangled and distressed myself.  My 
entire body tells me what  need to do to help that little'un out, and 
it's hard work standing up against such a strong and directive bodily 
instinct: my heart rate goes up, my breathing quickens and my temper can 
flare when the babe isn't picked up!  Pick The Baby Up!  Pick The Baby 
Up!! (silent mantra)  I can't tell you if I get tingling in this 
situation, as I'm one of those women who don't feel let down at all - 
but I can tell you I get/got milk!

Mothering in the bone, I guess. It's not surprising to me that such 
psychobiological hardwiring doesn't go away as time goes on.

There's also the phenomenom of mother's spontaneously relactating when 
their child falls ill.  I know of a women who never actually breastfed, 
but who suddenly started producing milk when her little one was very 
very ill.  No doubt I've heard of this one as she didn't breastfeed, and 
therefore everyone was so shocked by milk suddenly turning up, that they 
held onto the story and passed it on.  Probably not worthy of note in 
mothers who breastfed!

Morgan Gallagher

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