>Besides shock and fright, environmental stress definitely affects dairy
>herd milk production.

I think that's been pretty well documented.  But MER and milk volume are two
separate things, and cows and humans are two very different species.

As far as I know, the only *empirical* evidence relating MER function and
stress in humans is a case study of a single individual who knew it was
being evaluated (albeit indirectly) (J Ped 1948; 33(6): 698-704), and a
study of 127 women on Day 4.  In the study, fully 48 percent of the mothers
were found to have impaired MERs(!), many in both groups had significant
engorgement and damaged nipples (implying poor management), no mention was
made of how well babies were positioned, and MERs were not measured directly
(Pediatrics 1950; 5: 726-33, both articles by Newton and Newton).

*Clinically*, we've all seen women feeding in severe pain; dreading feeds;
feeding with scabbed and infected nipples; running on very little sleep or
food; running households with multiple small children; breastfeeding
on-stage in front of a couple hundred observers at Peter Hartmann's
conference demos... and the milk keeps flowing.  We've also seen lots of
women who *worry* about whether or not their let-down is functioning
(probably because of those two articles), when in fact it's functioning
fine.

A couple of us will be looking more closely at the dairy literature (I
hope).  If we find anything interesting, we'll pass it on...
--
Diane Wiessinger, MS, IBCLC, LLLL  Ithaca, NY
www.wiessinger.baka.com

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