Phantom let-down is the sensation of the let-down reflex that continues after breastfeeding has ended. Women who have breastfed, but are no longer nursing sometimes feel that familiar tingling in their breasts when they around infants or hear a baby cry. It is usually in both breasts and only lasts for a moment.
“Phantom Breast Syndrome” (PBS) is a type of condition in which patients have a sensation of residual breast tissue and can include both non-painful sensations as well as phantom breast pain. Patient may have pain and discomfort, itching, pins and needles sensations, tingling, pressure, burning, and throbbing.
You feel a strange tickling sensation
Some women report feeling a sensation almost like they're being “tickled from the inside,” their breast feels like it's “buzzing” or “prickly” inside, or like their breast milk is “letting down” (when they're not breastfeeding), she says.
Some moms with sensitive reflexes can let down their milk either right before or right at the beginning of a breastfeeding session. Many women experience an uncontrolled let-down reflex when they hear a baby cry or think of their child—suddenly, milk will begin to flow even if their baby is not nursing.
This is called idiopathic galactorrhea, and it may just mean that your breast tissue is particularly sensitive to the milk-producing hormone prolactin in your blood. If you have increased sensitivity to prolactin, even normal prolactin levels can lead to galactorrhea.
Hormonal Changes
It can be really common to feel down or weepy – or even depressed – after weaning. And for some, the feelings are strong and may mean there is a sense of anxiety, insomnia, anger, swings between high and low moods.
While a baby, toddler, or child is latched on, some mothers suffer from negative feelings or intrusive thoughts. This is a phenomenon called breastfeeding aversion and agitation. It is a rarely discussed topic as many women do not want to talk openly about it or are perhaps afraid to share these feelings.
Breastfeeding: The Let-Down Reflex
This usually happens when your baby sucks on your breast. You may even have a let-down when your baby or someone else's baby cries, or for no reason at all. Some women don't feel the let-down. Others may feel a pins and needles or tingling sensation.
New lump in the breast or underarm (armpit). Thickening or swelling of part of the breast. Irritation or dimpling of breast skin. Redness or flaky skin in the nipple area or the breast.
The most common symptom of breast cancer is a new lump or mass (although most breast lumps are not cancer). A painless, hard mass that has irregular edges is more likely to be cancer, but breast cancers can be also soft, round, tender, or even painful.
The emotional patterns that are associated with breast dis-ease include anger, resentment, grief, bitterness, over-caring for others, the inability or refusal to care for or nourish yourself, an unwillingness to forgive, not feeling you can trust others, or lacking hope.
Dysphoric milk ejection reflex, or D-MER, is a condition that affects people who breastfeed (chest feed) or pump milk. It causes sudden and intense negative emotions just before you “let down” or release milk. It's quick and lasts just a minute or two.
An infant's intestinal tract responds to its mother's milk by sprouting receptors that detect the hormone, activating neurochemical signals that can travel all the way to the brain. These signals may influence a baby's stress response and the development of brain regions that regulate emotions such as fear and anxiety.
Oxytocin and prolactin, which is released during breastfeeding, may improve the mother's mood and reduce her risk of depression. Breastfeeding women have lower rates of postpartum depression in comparison to formula-feeding women.
Physical pain with breastfeeding can be especially triggering for a mother with risk factors for mental illness. Research has found that pain is associated generally with increased risk of depression, and breastfeeding pain has been associated with increased risk of postnatal depression.
You Might Be Surprised By Your Emotions. Even for those who are happy to be done breastfeeding or pumping, the days after weaning can be an emotional time. Some mamas feel tearful, sad or mildly depressed after their baby is done nursing. Others may feel irritable, anxious or moody.
You will burn some stored body fat, but your body protects some fat for the purpose of breastfeeding. Many women don't lose all the baby weight until they completely stop nursing.
How long after weaning will it take for hormones to balance and your cycle to recalibrate? “Any changes to our body's systems typically takes up to three months. This is the time for our hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian (HPO) axis, which is the communication from brain to ovaries, to recalibrate.
The answer is yes! Although rare, there are historical records of men breastfeeding their infants, usually when the mother was unable to because of illness or death. One of the earliest mentions comes from the Talmud, which describes a man who nursed his infant after his wife's death during childbirth.
The increased caloric need for women who are breastfeeding is about 450 to 500 calories per day. Women who are not trying to lose weight following pregnancy should supplement the above DGA calories per day by 450 to 500 calories.
It's not unusual for milky discharge to continue for up to two to three years after discontinuing breastfeeding. That said, some people (regardless of their sex assigned at birth or whether they've breastfed before) can experience milk production or milky discharge called galactorrhea.