Dear Ann, 

The sodium levels start rising in the breastmilk when the milk is not 
being removed adequately and the breasts start involuting. 

In the first 24 hrs of life, the newborn has some extra fluid on board so 
he/she can sustain on smaller feeds of colostrum but by the 4th day, they 
need larger volumes of milk which is naturally lower in sodium.

If a baby for some reason is not able to remove the milk frequently and 
adequately, the breasts go into a weaning mode, hence the higher sodium 
level. 
This is not natural for a newborn. 
An older child who is eating and drinking other foods and fluids, the 
weaning milk is not dangerous since he/she is not relying on it for 
sustenance.

Vaishali Kute, MD FAAP

             ***********************************************

To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]

The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html