Re: premature developement

Posted By hfhs.md.rcs on November 25, 1998 at 16:33:56:

In Reply to: premature developement posted by Colleen on November 18, 1998 at 23:20:20:






    When my daughter was born she had what is considered "normal". Vaginal bleeding and enlarged, leeking breasts. In the first two weeks her breasts were engorged to the point of actually having mastitis.  I was instructed at the time to give gentle massage in a warm bath to relieve some of her pain and as I did this they actually did drain.  It wasn't long before the redness and most of the "swelling" went down. Now she is 18 months old and still has hard, large breasts.  I still breastfeed her maybe 3 times in a 24 hr period, and asume there is a possability that she could be getting hormones from me.  My fear is that this not the case and that I either did damage to her by massaging her breasts as a newborn, or that she is going to be one of those unfortunate few that start puberty way to early.  Could this be caused by a hormonal inbalance that has no relation to my milk?  What in your opinion do you feel is most likely.

      Thank you for your help
      Sincerley Colleen
Dear Colleen:
I will ask my pediatric colleagues to also comment. Vaginal discharge, sometimes vaginal bleeding, and breast fullness are the result of the high levels of estrogne present during pregnancy. The breast secretions have been recognized for centuries and has been termed "witches milk" from a time when mysterious findings were explained by demons, curses, and supernatural actions. These symptoms and signs found in some newborn girls resolve in a couple of weeks. Breast massage is unlikely to harm the breast. The amount of hormone being transferred in breast milk at 18 months of age is small.
Keywords: newborn breast milk.
This information is provided for education purposes only and is not a medical consultation. If you have specific questions, please contact your physician.