>  > I was wondering if anyone else had read the article in The Lancet on milk
>>  production with a second baby. I would like the opinion of others on it.
>>  There were a few questions that I had after reading it. It is a very short
>>  paper- perhaps if it had been longer the detail might have covered these
>  > questions.
>>
>>  The first point is that the lead in suggests that it is about women who
>have
>>  low milk supplies when in fact it appears that none of the women in the
>>  study suffered from insuffient milk.


Karleen, I think the study introduces itself by pointing out that
many women who stop bf *perceive* themselves to have low milk....and
the inference is that if they think that, they can be reassured that
second time round they will produce more.

>  >
>  > Secondly,  it doesn't say how milk production was measured.


Yes it does....24 hour test weighings.

>I suspect that
>>  perhaps the babies were weighed and I wonder how much of the increased
>input
>>  by the babies was actually due to second babies being larger.


They say they controlled for that.

>Perhaps it
>>  might also be due to second time around mothers knowing a bit more about
>>  what they are doing rather than a physiological increase in the ability to
>>  produce milk (although it could be this also- there is just not enough
>info
>>  there to convince me).


I agree - better support second time round, more information gained
in the interim.
>  >
>>  The idea of measuring the length of time of feeding also makes me
>>  uncomfortable. It's like less is better... but why would this be so?


Not so much better, as an indication that milk transfer was more
efficient, is the way the authors express it. So the mothers made
more milk, with less stimulation.

Heather Welford Neil
NCT bfc Newcastle upon Tyne UK

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