To explain this quickly to the uninitiated-but-informed about fluid balance:
Oxytocin has an activity similar to anti-diuretic hormone.  Both act to
conserve fluid in the body, rather than excrete it through the urinary
tract.  ADH helps us cope with reduced intake when necessary, and oxytocin
prioritizes fluid availability for milk production.  Both act in concert to
support lactation.  ADH is finely tuned to our fluid balance and fluctuates
all the time to maintain it in the right range.

Ingesting too much fluid, as plain water or anything else, will lead to a
reduction in ADH secretion and possibly a reduction in oxytocin.  Where
something is present in excess, there is no need to conserve it, and in fact
we need to get rid of it.

It seems the body's first choice for jettisoning excess fluid, even while
lactating, is NOT to produce more milk, but to increase renal excretion,
i.e. peeing it out.

The best argument I have found for avoiding the advice to force fluids is
that Nestlé, in its Norwegian book for mothers about infant feeding in the
first year of life, emphasizes the need for 3-4 liters (over a gallon, for
the metrically challenged among you) of fluids daily while breastfeeding,
and states 'Drink even if you are not thirsty...'
The rest of this book is a handy guide to ensuring the cessation of
lactation in the first year of life, and for those who follow all the advice
to the letter, those bothersome leaky breasts and the whole untidy fuss of
breastfeeding should be only a vague memory by 6 months.

Rachel Myr
Norway

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