
A nursing mum was shocked when she realised her armpits were leaking milk ā believing at first that she had a āthird nippleā, only to find thereās a perfectly good reason why it was happening. Watch her recount the alarming experience below:Ā
Lindsay White (@thelittlemilkbar) recently shared a video on TikTok to explain how you can āleak breast milk in places other than your boobsā, telling viewers: āThis is going to blow your mind.āĀ
She recalled: āOne day I was feeling Allie and realised her hair was soaking wet. Then I realised it was coming from my armpit.Ā
Advert
āI thought I was just really sweaty, but then I noticed this huge lump.Ā
āWhite said she āsqueezed itā and, much to her surprise,Ā āmilk squirted outā, so decided to visit her doctor.Ā

āI went to the doctor, thinking maybe I had a third nipple, but she said āNope! Your milk line actually runs all the way up through your armpits.āĀ
White's video has since racked up more than five million views, saying in a follow-up postĀ that while she only ever leaked from one spot with Allie, when she got pregnant with her son Koda, she leaked milk out of āboth sidesā.Ā
She said: āInstead of having just one big lump, I had these two little things pop up that have never been there before ā and on the other side too.
āSo I leaked milk out of three spots on one side, and two sides on the other... Iām definitely a milk maker!āĀ

According toĀ Emily Brittingham, International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC),Ā itās completely normal for the breast to have tissue that extends to the armpit.Ā
Writing for BellyBelly.com, Brittingham explained: āAt six weeks gestation, when you were a tiny embryo in your motherās womb, milk lines began to develop, starting from your underarms.Ā
āThese lines travelled down both sides of your torso and extended all the way to your groin.āĀ

She continued: āFrom 16 weeks gestation, the ātailsā at both ends of these lines started to regress.
āIn some fetuses, though, the line doesnāt fully regress at either end and leaves the ātail.ā Tissue that extends into the armpit is called axillary tissue, or āthe tail of Spence.'āĀ
During pregnancy, the level or hormones that help create milk is 10 to 20 times higher, Brittingham said, adding that these hormones trigger the milk ducts to expand.Ā
āThe ducts begin to branch out within the breasts. They can stretch to reach any ātailsā of breast tissue along the milk line,ā sheĀ said.Ā
āIf thereās extra breast tissue in your armpit, itās possible thereāll be milk ducts, too.āĀ