Recent studies of infant feeding in Botswana, reported at the Barcelona HIV/AIDS conference 2002, confronted the possibility that women who planned to formula feed exclusively and were in that study arm might give some breastfeeds due to various social pressures (and of course the baby's urging.)  
It was anticipated that they might under-report any breastfeeding, knowing that it deviated from what the researchers wanted.  
So at each monthly visit from 2 to 6 months, hand expression was used to see if the breasts of the mothers, many of them multiparae who had breastfed before, were producing milk.  
To quote an abstract: "Breastfeeding was considered likely if breast milk was expressible in 2 or more visits between 2 and 6 months."
36% of those who had freely chosen to formula feed exclusively showed milk secretion at two or more visits.
61% of those who had been assigned to formula feed exclusively showed milk secretion.

My question for LactNetters is:  for how long is hand expression likely to yield some drops of milk after it is sure that breastfeeding has totally stopped? 
We can all speak from our own experience, I expect.  But is there any statisitical literature on this matter?  
Failing that, what is your collective clinical wisdom? 

This methodological issue may come up at the HIV Mother to Child Transmission Colloquium in Tanzania September 20-21, so I would very much appreciate gaining a little more understanding before I go to that.
Thanks.
Helen 


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