'Witch's milk'. Galactorrhea in the newborn
D. J. Madlon-Kay
For a five month period, infants examined on admission and discharge from
the newborn nursery and at two-week and two-month well-baby visits were
examined for breast nodule size and the presence of galactorrhea. Nine
hundred eighty-four examinations were performed on 640 children. Forty-five
examinations (4.6%) on 38 infants revealed galactorrhea. "Witch's milk" was
noted at all ages studied, including 1.8% of examinations at 2 months of
age. All the infants with galactorrhea were born at term, with neither sex
predominating. Children with galactorrhea had breast nodules significantly
larger than those of children without galactorrhea. None of these infants
was hypothyroid. This study concludes that witch's milk is a common
occurrence, associated with larger than average breast nodules, and may
persist until 2 months of age in normal newborns.