Hi All,
Have been reading this thread with interest and felt I had to comment on it.

It is my thought that a moms supply drops a bit (or a lot depending on the
mom) when she is pumping (whether exclusively for a hospitalized baby or
part time during work) because the pump simply cannot "milk" the breast
(lactiferous sinuses) the way the baby can, and the pump cannot stimulate
the breast the same way the baby does.  So while the pump may get the easily
available say 3oz of milk sitting in the sinuses, the baby can get more than
that by stimulating the breast and pulling more hind milk down from higher
up in the breast.
As far as growth spurts goes, I wonder if the baby is actually increasing
moms supply because they are  hungry or if the increase in supply is just a
bonus - the baby is growing a whole bunch in a short time and that must
hurt!  So where do they go to find comfort?  The breast.  What do they do
there?  BF.  How many of us have put our babies in an outfit in the morning
only to find it doesn't fit the very next day (or that night in PJs case -
grew 3/4 of an inch in less that 12 hours - OUCH!)?  SO the frequent BFF
leads to an increase in supply, but is that really the intention?  I have
had moms call me and say "My baby went through a growth spurt and now I have
too much milk!"  I know it all sttles down in a few days, but if the baby
"needed" that increase in supply because of a growth spurt, why do they not
continue to take the increased amount?

Just some thoughts...

Jay
in foggy, cold California where the family has been cooped up in the house
for a week because everyone has bronchitis and the Dr is worried about it
going into pneumonia (as it has in several of his patients).  Thanks to the
mom who brought her sick son to a birthday party and told everyone that his
moist cough and slimy runny nose was just "his asthma". uh huh.
Jay Simpson, CLE
Sacramento (State Capital), California, West Coast, USA
"No Miracles performed here, just a lot of love and hard work."