>>Why are we still discussing foremilk and hindmilk?  Peter Hartmann's
research has shown that there isn't really much  change in the fat content of
milk during a feeding.  In other words
the foremilk/hindmilk theory is just a myth.  << [Dorothy C]

Good question, but I'm not ready to "give" on this one yet.  I know from
personal observation and experience that the first milk pumped out prior to
MER is often thinner than the milk pumped thereafter and/or at the end of a
feeding.  And this makes physiological sense to me; "foremilk" is the milk
that passively collects *in the sinuses* between feedings.  "Hindmilk" is the
milk that includes more fat, fat which is forcibly squeezed out of the
alveoli, through the ducts and down to the sinuses at MER.  Milk is stored in
both the alveoli and in the sinuses, and I'll bet that can vary tremendously
from one woman to the next as well.

 Compounding that thought:

>> if the baby did not drain the breast well at one feeding, then it starts
with a higher fat milk at the start of the next from that breast. <<  [Joy A]

Okay, now I'm getting more "picture".  Maybe the concept of foremilk-hindmilk
is partly a product of storage capacity.  If a mother "runs out" completely,
then the milk that collects passively to the next feed will probably be "low
fat". However, if mom had lots of "left over" milk from the last MER, then
the mix would be richer *unless and until she drains her storage tanks down
to 0*, which many women seem to do by evening time.  And isn't this when they
try to pump and say, "I had no milk" or "it was thin and watery"?

I'm beginning to think that we need to give more thought as to exactly where
milk is stored, and whether milk "ejected" from the alveoli during MER but
not taken out of the breast can "settle out" and have the fat reattach to
cell walls. So many nit-picky questions to ask, and so few people to answer!
I've been working hard to integrate Peter's research with my previously held
knowledge and beliefs, and this is one thing that just hasn't "settled" yet
with me, although I feel like I'm starting to get there. Comments and
clarifications, anyone? Or did I just confuse everyone further?

-Lisa Marasco, BA, LLLL, IBCLC