I posted a few days ago that I thought it was 'normal' for long-term
expressing to appear less effective as time goes on...and there was a
resultant, related thread about milk production over time.

It is my experience that mothers *do* tend to find a drop in production -
ie less milk per session -  after they have expressed for some months,
which they can overcome by expressing more frequently.

The mothers who Pamela talks about who express for many months with success
are probably expressing several times a day - can you confirm, Pamela? -
and their babies are not feeding very much, if at all, at the breast.  I
suspect this may be different, physiologically, from the mother who bfs
morning and evening and night, and expresses once or twice a day.  These
are the mothers who say they notice they're producing less per expression
at about six months or so, after a few months of bf *and* expressing.

And here's another related mystery.

You can keep a milk supply going indefinitely with an older baby toddler or
child on minimal stimulation - but could you do the same with a pump or
hand expressing - that is, could you express once every two days, say,
after a period of frequent expressing (mirroring 'direct' bf),  and expect
to maintain a supply for a similar *forever* period ? I have not known
anyone do this...I suspect the supply would dwindle, but I really don't
know.

Heather Welford Neil
NCT bfc Newcastle upon Tyne UK