Apparent Telepathy Between Babies and Nursing Mothers: A Survey
📄 Original study📌 Appears in:
Plain English Summary
Have you ever heard a mother say she just knew her baby needed her? Rupert Sheldrake surveyed 100 moms to find out how common this really is. A striking 62% had experienced their breast milk "letting down" (the body's automatic response to prepare for nursing) while away from their baby. Of those, about a quarter said the timing lined up with their baby actually needing them right then. Mothers who noticed these coincidences breastfed significantly longer -- over six months -- compared to those who didn't. Some women even sensed when their baby was in trouble from an accident while they were apart. The survey can't prove telepathy is real since memory can play tricks, but it makes a compelling case that the deep bond between mother and baby deserves a much closer scientific look.
Abstract
Some nursing mothers claim that when they are away from their baby they often know when their baby needs them because their milk lets down. Some are convinced that this response is telepathic. In order to find out more about this phenomenon, 100 mothers who had recently had babies were surveyed and asked a series of questions about their experiences when breastfeeding. 62% had experienced milk let-down when away from their babies and 16% had noticed that this seemed to coincide with their baby needing them. Most of these women breastfed their babies for more than six months. In addition, 3 women said they had felt there was something wrong with their baby when they were away from home, and found that it was indeed in distress because of a fall or other accident, and 5 women commented that they often woke up shortly before their baby needed them in the night.
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📋 Cite this paper
Sheldrake, Rupert (2002). Apparent Telepathy Between Babies and Nursing Mothers: A Survey. Journal of the Society for Psychical Research.
@article{sheldrake_2002_telepathy_babies,
title = {Apparent Telepathy Between Babies and Nursing Mothers: A Survey},
author = {Sheldrake, Rupert},
year = {2002},
journal = {Journal of the Society for Psychical Research},
}