Thanks for that Joy. It is very interesting. I loved your teenager analogy- it helps put a handle on it. I also think that this information may be helpful to women inducing lactation because if they know that their child's need for milk is going to decrease after 6 months or so it can give them hope (if they haven't managed a full supply in the early months) that at some stage their ability to produce milk may become equal to their child's need for milk. Vwalla.... no more supplementation. A bit of a carrot to carry on when it is hard. Karleen > However, the scientific evidence showed that > the intake of breastmilk was constant for any single baby between one > and six months (ie *may* be less before one month - but that wasn't > measured). I have thought about this and have concluded by simple logic (ie no > proof ;-) that perhaps what is happening is that the baby temporarily > increases his intake over a few days and then goes back to the > original amount. The increased demand does not last long enough to > actually raise the supply - this only happens with a more long-term > and persistent increase in demand. > I think this piece of information about the constancy of supply is > very significant for mothers expressing their milk for their babies, > eg while at work. There is the common expectation that they have to > keep increasing he amount they express to keep up with their babies' > increasing appetites. This shouldn't happen. Maybe the expectations > of the carers are that the amount the child should eat increases and > they are offered more and more over time. > > Joy *********************************************** 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