Dr. Doren Fredrickson's work (he's an MD/PhD from Kansas) suggests a
dose-response relationship for breast milk and health outcomes. The more
milk the baby gets, the better the health outcome; the longer the baby gets
breast milk, the better the health outcome. Some of the studies that
included duration of breastfeeding found statistically significant health
differences between formula-fed babies and babies who had only had a few
days of breast milk. The more the better, but every ounce of liquid gold
will help enormously. Dr. Fredrickson's chapter in "Breastfeeding:
Biocultural Perspectives" talks about this dose-response relationship and
cites a number of studies that support this view.
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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