What is the date of that that recommendation, Emily?  

I would think that research that has found a huge variation in the amount of milk taken by healthy, thriving babies (between babies, and between nursings for individual babies) would have made us realize that the kind of mathematical gymnastics you're describing don't yield much useful information.  

So you find out that baby takes in X amount over 24 hours, based on calculations from the pump test.  But there's such a wide range of 'normal' intake - as much as a 10-ounce difference in 24-hour intake (I think I remember that in some instances even larger variations have been found), we don't really know (in the abstract) how much is enough for any particular baby.

Other questions that come to mind:  is mom also nursing during this test time?  If not, how is the baby being fed and what impact is that having on breastfeeding and milk supply?  If mom is nursing, what effect is that having on what she can pump?  How effective is her pumping regime - is manual expression also used, or is she just relying on the pump?

When talking moms and babies, I'm always cautious about approaches that recommend machines and measurements - not always helpful and can undercut a mother's confidence.

Ingrid 

Ingrid Tilstra
La Leche League Canada Leader
International Board Certified Lactation Consultant

-----Original Message-----
From: Lactation Information and Discussion [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Emily Waight
Sent: Wednesday, July 10, 2013 2:50 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Pumps are not a complete test of milk production

Hi,

I did find the information I was looking for.  I'm currently studying for my lactation consultant exam and it is the recommended test per the literature (yes, designed by Thomas Hale) to get a rough estimate of a mother's milk production in 24 hrs.  The way you do it is to have a mother pump with a hospital grade pump every hour for 15 minutes for four consecutive hours.  You add the the totals she pumps for hours 3 & 4 and divide by two.  Then you multiply by 24 hrs.  This gives you an estimate of her hourly production and her daily production.  Of course it's not a perfect design, but it is what's recommended in the lactation consulting literature for daily milk production when assessing a woman with a potentially low milk supply.  

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