I have also wondered whether being perimenopausal might tend to inhibit milk production.  Many adoptive nursing moms are in the age range of the late 30s, early 40s, when their babies arrive, and I have been in contact with quite a few who have had a difficult time producing much breast milk, and suspected that being perimenopausal might be part of it.  I haven't heard of anyone who didn't produce anything, but many who never passed a few ounces a day, despite heroic efforts to increase it.
 
My own experience makes me wonder, too.  I was never a big milk producer, although I think my experience was in the average range for moms who had never given birth to a baby.  The baby I produced the most for was Joseph, my fifth baby.  I had just turned 39 when he was born, but didn't have any signs of being perimenopausal.  I had lots of nipple problems with him and also had surgery when he was 6 months old.  He got more bottles than my others did, but I estimated that I produced as much as 16 ounces a day of breast milk for him.  Since he was such a big baby, this still didn't amount to the 50% milk supply that I'd had as a goal.   With Joanna, who arrived 21 months after Joseph, I thought I would finally pass the 50% mark.  I figured that, since she was a tiny little Haitian/Filipino baby, 16 ounces of breast milk a day would be a larger percentage.  Also, she never had single bottle or pacifier.  However, for some reason, I just couldn't produce much for her.  Her latch was at least as good as Joseph's, but the most I felt I ever produced with her, while she was nursing exclusively, was 8 ounces a day.  
 
Then, when Joanna was about 8 months old, I got a depo provera injection, for reasons unrelated to breastfeeding.  Soon after that, she started refusing the Lact-Aid, which she had been unwilling to nurse without before.  Since she was on solids by this time, it was hard to estimate the amount of breast milk she was getting, but she was definitely getting significantly more than before.  Six months later, when the depo had worn off, my milk supply suddenly dropped to just about nothing.   
 		 	   		  
############################

To unsubscribe from the LACTNET list:
write to: mailto:[log in to unmask]
or click the following link:
http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/scripts/wa.exe?SUBED1=LACTNET&A=1