Pat says:

<  The more milk the baby removes, the more milk you will make for your baby???>

Nah, Pat, still can't buy it. The adjective "more" still modifies "MILK", which so easily translates in people's minds as a "large" volume at one time. Too many of them judge by standards they have seen or used in AIM feeding. 
Moms often judge not only by how large a volume they are able to remove at any one time, but in assuming that a baby is fussy because the baby "didn't get much" or "enough". 


Visible volumes (speedily fed) are the more common experiences in a non-BF, transparent-container-with-visible-measurements culture and a probable part of the culture of older, non-BF family members as well.


I know it's getting into a completely amazing facet of physiology. It could be considered by some to be "too complicated to try to explain." But it seems to me that if we want to really change concepts, we have to use the adjective "more" to modify the TIME FRAME. 


That time-frame difference may require a significant attitude change for someone from a non-BF cultural background.  The "oftenness" is many times one of the objections brought up by a mom who is using visible volumes as a frame of reference.  My goal is to bring the thinking around toward how the very FREQUENCY of milk removal is one of the main keys to telling the breast what we want it to do in each specific situation. 


It also helps break down the resistance to the "oftenness" as a necessary part of voluntarily DIRECTING the production process per se. By using "more" to modify "often", it presents a scientific truth. This can lead, if it seems helpful, to explaining the next fact: that milk production is more rapid (in the breast from which it is removed), for a whole hour right after each milk removal! 


Who woulda thunk such a thing??? Nothing like that ever happens to a container of AIM!!! The more often you take out it IT, the less remains and the quicker you run out of it!!!!   (Which is exactly why so many moms misunderstand and "wait for the breast to feel fuller" before they pump or feed!)


And as Diane says in "How We Make Milk", (my very favorite of her marvelous instruction sheets), "it's the 24 hour total that's the most important!"  


Not really yelling, but don't know any other way to really emphasize a term on LN. Semantics is such a powerful tool, but even so, still subject to "interpretation". That's why I believe it's important to consider the most likely "interpretation" of each specific person when carefully choosing one's semantics. Not too complicated (as my friends are loathe to say of me;-) But not so simplistic as to invite misinterpretation either!!


K. Jean Cotterman RNC-E, IBCLC
WIC Volunteer LC     Dayton OH  


 
 

             ***********************************************

Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]
Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask]
COMMANDS:
1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: set lactnet nomail
2. To start it again: set lactnet mail
3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome