Despite the fact that Milk for Me features fictional stories, there’s actually quite a bit of truth to them.

That said, here are 10 Lessons in Lactation listed in no particular order paired with tie-ins to my own fictional works:

1) It is possible to induce/start lactation in a woman’s breasts without pregnancy and childbirth, hormonal additives, medications, or herbal supplements coming into the picture. By regular nipple stimulation and manual pumping alone coupled with patience, it is possible to induce lactation.

TIE-IN: The Cumming into Milk series details the adventure of Janine as she attempts to induce lactation by giving herself regular nipple stimulation and breast pumping sessions over a certain span of time. Each ‘chapter’ details the progress that she makes and the story ends when she becomes fully lactated.

2) There are some medications and herbs that can cause lactation – either as their intended uses or as a side effect.

3) Induced lactation is not a simple matter of having no milk today and suddenly having a milk supply tomorrow. Commitment and dedication over a period of time is necessary to truly bring in the milk supply as the process of induced lactation goes through phases.

TIE-IN: The story series Twelve Times a Day highlights the shared experiences of Dr. Perkums and Melissa as they work together to get Melissa fully lactated once more. No matter when or where, every two hours (which is typical of a newborn baby’s nursing schedule, by the way), Dr. Perkums spends a certain amount of time nursing from Melissa’s breasts and it is this dedication that allows Melissa to regain her status as being fully lactated as quickly as she does.

4) The release of the hormone oxytocin is responsible for the letdown and milk ejection reflex. Coincidentally, oxytocin is frequently released by the body during pleasurable moments. Put the two together and you get wonderfully erotic (and potentially humorous) situations like milk squirting out during sex.

TIE-IN: Melissa’s body is wonderfully responsive to her partner’s touches and so even the merest of hungry glances from Dr. Perkums is enough to trigger her letdown process and get the milk flowing. Consequently, this is also why their sex scenes frequently (if not always) end with a delicious shower spray of milk as cumming can definitely trigger letdown!

5) Lactation causes an upswing of the hormone prolactin in the one who is lactating and it can promote ‘cuddly’ and ‘sensual’ and ‘stay at home’ nesting-like feelings. Though this can interfere with libido (more sensual, less sexual), all of that oxytocin floating around can ‘interfere’, too.

TIE-IN: Melissa loves the occasions when she can stay in bed with her nursing partner all day and simply be nursed around the clock to ecstasy. Owing to all the good feelings she experiences with nursing and being nursed, sensual oftentimes becomes sexual and a suckle in bed can turn into a suck-and-fuck session of screaming proportions.

6) With all the nerve endings in the nipples, it is therefore quite possible to experience pleasure and even orgasm through nipple stimulation alone. Conversely, if there is too much nipple stimulation of the wrong kind, there can be pain instead.

TIE-IN: One of the things I really try to highlight in my stories is how the nurser always, always, ALWAYS gets a correct latch-on before beginning to seriously nurse. Happy breasts and happy nipples and teats = happy nursing and happy nursing = possibility for a lot of pleasurable things.

7) While the breasts enlarge owing to lactation, the teats – the areolas and the nipples – enlarge, too, and they also darken significantly. This serves to make them visually stand out more to the one whom the breasts are being offered to. The areolas also oftentimes get bumpier and these bumps secrete both a lactating fluid and olfactory cues for nursing.

TIE-IN: It is very possible that these olfactory and visual cues are part of what makes a woman’s breasts so appealing to people – even to people whom may not normally be interested in women themselves. In the case of Dr. Perkums, he can never turn down a pair of breasts with beautifully dark and enlarged teats.

8) The milk supply operates on a supply and demand schedule and it can be ramped up or slowed down accordingly with effort.

TIE-IN: In Dr. Perkums’ New Year’s letter to Melissa, he asks of her opinion on the ramping up of the frequency of their nursing sessions and briefly details how they might go about doing it. As nursing more frequently means a greater demand for milk, an increase of the milk supply is therefore needed and though Melissa won’t be producing quite enough just yet, she will be once Dr. Perkums starts nursing from her more frequently.

9) Engorgement of the breasts owing to the overfullness of milk is a real issue and a very painful one for some women and inhibit the letdown reflex because of the pain and stress. On the other hand, milk engorgement can be a positive sensation for other women and make them feel more eager to be nursed and as a result, these women will experience letdown more readily and sometimes even spontaneously.

TIE-IN: Melissa absolutely loves how Dr. Perkums finds her milk-swollen breasts to be attractive and when they’re at their most swollen and most needful, her own eager anticipation of the nursing session to come more often than not mirrors Dr. Perkums’ eagerness to nurse and she usually ends up gushing in response to nursing cues.

10) Adult nursing relationships are very much a real thing and it takes a seriously dedicated couple to commit to such a relationship as it is mutually dependent and is very time sensitive and time-demanding on both partners involved owing to the nature of lactation and how the milk supply operates.

TIE-IN: Melissa and Dr. Perkums are in an adult nursing and breastfeeding relationship and though milk-hungry Dr. Perkums has nursing sessions outside of his relationship (with Melissa’s permission), he never, ever misses a nursing session with Melissa. Melissa can count on Dr. Perkums to always be there to nurse away her milky fullness when it’s time and Dr. Perkums can count on Melissa to always be there with her breasts full of milk to fulfill his need and hunger to nurse.