>I had a question today that I couldn't answer and though maybe you all
could
help.  This Mom nursed her daughter for one year. The child is now 18 months
old and the mother can still express milk.  She has had hormone studies done
and all are within normal limits.  She doesn't feel she could be pregnant.
She wanted to know if this is common and how long it could go on.  Thanks
for
your help.<

I stopped breastfeeding my child in January 1992.  (She was almost 4 years
old). 15 months later I had glandular fever (thats 'mono') followed by
post-viral fatique syndrome [which got better after some time and is
intermittently bad -- something you never really recover from :-( ].  I was
so ill that my doctor reckons I stopped ovulating for a while (from my
description of my symptoms).  I could, all the way through, and still can
now, express a drop of colostrum-like milk.  I check every few months or
year or so.  I never could hand express very well, so I don't go for more
than a drop.

I know loads of women who have kept milk for years -- I just mention my
health story because clearly, even though no baby was interested in that
milk, my body considered it needed to protect my ability to produce milk
even when other systems (like memory and other brain functions, as well as
ovulation) were shutting down.

Anyway -- if she is expressing milk (in quantity?) she will probably keep
the system going.

I would like to keep open the possibility to relactate for my grandchildren,
which is why *I* keep checking, as well as out of curiosity.

Magda Sachs
Breastfeeding Supporter, BfN, UK

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