Journal of Primeasia
Integrative Disciplinary Research | Online ISSN 3064-9870 | Print ISSN 3069-4353
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Volume 7 Number 1 2026
REVIEWS (Open Access)
Lactation After Infant Loss: A Narrative Review of Health, Psychosocial, and Care Outcomes
Sakina Ruhi 1*, Adlina Abdullatif 1, Jegathambigai R. Naidu 1, Hana Chen 1
Journal of Primeasia 7 (1) 1-8 https://doi.org/10.25163/primeasia.7110871
Submitted: 22 August 2026 Revised: 10 October 2026 Accepted: 20 October 2026 Published: 22 October 2026
Abstract
Perinatal loss ends a pregnancy or a newborn's life, but it does not end lactation. Many bereaved mothers experience the physiological onset of milk production days after their baby has died, an event that is physically uncomfortable and, for many, psychologically compounding. Despite this, lactation care after loss remains poorly integrated into standard bereavement support, and the evidence base describing it is scattered across small qualitative studies. This paper presents a narrative synthesis of existing literature on lactation after infant loss, drawing on qualitative studies, clinical commentaries, and adjacent bereavement and lactation research to characterize the physical, psychological, and structural dimensions of this experience; sources were identified through targeted literature searching and prior familiarity with the field rather than an exhaustive systematic protocol. Three themes recur across the literature: unmanaged lactation carries plausible but under-quantified physical risk; the psychological burden of embodied, unacknowledged grief is substantial and frequently intensified by clinical silence; and milk donation, though understudied, emerges repeatedly as a meaningful restorative pathway consistent with Continuing Bonds Theory and the Dual Process Model of coping. Structural gaps in provider training, referral pathways, and online health information compound all three. Lactation after infant loss deserves deliberate, trauma-informed clinical attention rather than default suppression. Larger, quantitative, cross-setting research is needed to move this field from description toward actionable clinical guidance.
Keywords: perinatal bereavement; lactation suppression; milk donation; continuing bonds; disenfranchised grief
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