This is a LACTNET post Kathy Dettwyler sent earlier this year on this
subject.

> Date:         Tue, 22 Feb 2000 09:23:25 -0600
> From:         Kathy Dettwyler <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject:      That pesky 5% figure
>
> The original 5% figure came from a study done in the 1950s in Australia,
> where the mothers were allowed to nurse one minute per side every 4 hours
> the first day, 2 minutes per side every 4 hours the second day, 3 minutes
> per side every 4 hours the third day, etc.  Fully 95% of women on this
> restrictive schedule still brought in a perfectly adequate milk supply.  5%
> did not.
>
> I do not have the time to dig out the references for this, but Betty Crase
> and I collaborated on tracking this down several years ago, and she is the
> one who does the conference presentations outlining each step -- from the
> original Australian study, to an article by Dana Raphael that quotes that
> study, to others who quote Raphael, etc.
>
> I would *not* be surprised to know definitively that 5% of the clients that
> Dr. Neifert sees at her clinic for women with serious lactation
> difficulties fall into the category of being "truly biologically incapable
> of producting enough milk."  But the people she sees at her clinic are a
> tiny sub-sample of the general population.
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Katherine A. Dettwyler, Ph.D.                         email:[log in to unmask]
> Anthropology Department                               phone: (409) 845-5256
> Texas A&M University                                    fax: (409) 845-4070
> College Station, TX  77843-4352
> http://www.prairienet.org/laleche/dettwyler.html
--
Monique
Noah 6/97, Melissa 6/23/00
[log in to unmask]

The same phrase describes my marriage and my breasts:
before the kids, they used to be such a cute couple.
Amy Krouse Rosenthall

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