Shannon asks: 
Is there a point where my milk will not have enough calories  for him?
 
Now I am going to tell you all a story which will have some good news
and some bad news.  
About a year ago I was approached by some docs in our dept to help them
collect breast milk from moms who are breastfeeding 2-4 month old
infants, and babies over one year to compare fat and calorie content.
That sounded like a great idea since I was tired of hearing health
professionals tell moms that breast milk turns to water after age one
year.  I checked that there were no artificial milk ties to this study,
which I was assured that there were not. My name would appear on this
study, so I had to be sure  ( My hospital is very tied to one of the big
companies).  The results of the study were amazing!! The fat content
increased up to 10 times after the first year as compared to the control
group who were breastfeeding younger babies.  One mom had 28% fat.  
Now the bad news.  
The docs sent me the study, which is now being sent for publication.
Here is how the abstract was worded: 
"Introduction: The optimal duration of breast feeding is a matter of
controversy. While the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends
exclusive breast feeding for at least 6 months and a breast feeding
duration of up to 1 year in order to get the “full benefits of breast
feeding”, recent studies have shown that prolonged breast feeding may
lead to unwelcome outcomes and may even increase cardiovascular risks in
adulthood. The caloric contribution of human milk to the diet of
partially breast-fed children beyond the first year of life is unknown.
We therefore conducted this cross-sectional study, in order to estimate
fat and energy content of milk in prolonged lactation. " 
Of course they were talking about the Leeson and Lucas study which came
out in 2001 BMJ 2001;322:643-647 ( 17 March ) "Duration of breast
feeding and arterial distensibility in early adult life: population
based study," 
  and was totally discredited by the scientific community.
 HYPERLINK
"http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/322/7287/643"Duration of
breast feeding and arterial distensibility in early adult life:
population based study -- Leeson et al. 322 (7287): 643 -- BMJ
I was furious!!  I told them that they would make a laughing stock of
our hospital if they published this study and that I wanted my name
taken off of it immediately. ( Of course, those magic letters IBCLC
would have given this article more validity!!)  The head of the dept
called me in to try and convince me, even changed the wording somewhat
to try to appease me, but the bottom line was that this study will hit
the headlines that breastfeeding older infants is dangerous.  I hope
that it will not pass peer reviews in the main journals.  I am ashamed
to have contributed to this work.  
Let this be a warning to all, and Valerie has been telling us this for
ages: NEVER collect breast milk for any study, no matter how innocent it
seems.  Everything can be twisted to make breastfeeding sound dangerous.

But, in answer to your questions, breast milk after age one year is
higher in fat content than we ever imagined.  Until the study is
accepted for publication, I cannot publish the results here.  Hope it
will never be published.  
Sadly, 
Esther Grunis, IBCLC 
 
 

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