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Lactation Information and Discussion

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Subject:
From:
Kathy Dettwyler <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Lactation Information and Discussion <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Mon, 26 Jul 1999 18:45:12 -0500
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I don't think this is a good idea at all.  If it were so necessary, women
would be doing it all over the world and it would be part of the traditional
knowledge and practice among those cultures where everyone breastfeeds for
several years, and I have never, ever read of any culture where women do
this on a routine basis.  I suspect that in contexts where baby is always
with mother, and allowed to nurse ad lib, including at night, this is never
necessary, because engorgement is so rare.  A mother should not need a
breast pump to breastfeed except under very extraordinary conditions (baby
in NICU, terribly premature, etc.), and a mother shouldn't need to express
milk from her breasts unless she is saving milk for bottles/cups when she
must be away from her baby (working mothers).  What you may be doing by
having the mom express often for "discomfort" is mimic the action of the
baby who gets to feed ad lib.  That may, in fact, preserve the
milk-producing status of the breasts, but it would be so much better if the
baby just did it, and if the milk went into the baby instead of being
wasted.  Especially in those early days and weeks when a big proportion of
the milk is still colostrum, full of wonderful antibodies.  I cringe to
think of women expressing and discarding all that wonderful milk.  :(

Kathy Dettwyler

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