Dear Laura,

I hate to burst your bubble - your tears analogy is really neat - but most of the milk given to a baby during a feeding is, in fact, stored milk and not milk that is being produced "on the spot."  Think about it for a moment.  Most nursing mothers can physically see and feel the difference in their breasts after a feeding - they are softer because of the emptying that has occured. If a mother weans suddenly, she will become engorged - if milk were being produced only in response to sucking, this would not happen.  For mothers whose babies nurse several to many times an hour, they may not notice this effect so much because the amount of milk removed and then replaced each time is much less than for moms who go several hours between feedings.  When moms go back to work, they often begin to experience a decrease in milk supply because the overall removal of milk decreases compared to what it was before separation from baby.  Fortunately, a well-functioning breast can ramp up quickly and mothers who continue to nurse frequently when they are with baby can usually maintain an adequate supply for some time.  During the weaning process, there is an overall decrease in milk production as feedings are dropped, but mothers will often experience differing degrees of temporary engorgement depending on how quickly the process proceeds.  Also, some breasts seem to "sync up" more easily than others during this process.

Having been working in this field for more that 20 years now, I remember quite well telling mothers exactly what you are telling them - most of the milk is being produced as the baby is feeding.  However, a lot of research has been done since then, and we know a lot more about how the human breast functions.  I would encourage you to read some up-to-date lactation reference material, including "Breastfeeding and Human Lactation" by Riordan and Auerbach or "Breastfeeding - A Guide for the Medical Profession" by Lawrence.  You might also find studies done by Peter Hartmann to be of particular interest - he has done some ground-breaking work in his studies of lactogenesis and breast storage capacity. Happy reading - I think that you will be astounded and fascinated by the intriguing information which has been uncovered, which, of course, has only led to more questions.


Warmly,
Sharon Knorr, BSMT, ASCP, IBCLC
Newark, NY (near Rochester on Lake Ontario)
mailto:[log in to unmask]

             ***********************************************
The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html