>Dear Friends:
>     How much human milk does an individual baby need to grow?
>     The range of production by mothers varies: from around 400 ml/24 hours to
>over a liter in 24 hours. All those babies thrive, on different amounts of
>milk.
>     How can we ever know?
>     warmly,
>
>Nikki Lee RN, MS, Mother of 2, IBCLC, CCE
>Adjunct Faculty, Union Institute and University, Lactation Program
>Film Reviews Editor, Journal of Human Lactation
>www.breastfeedingalwaysbest.com


That range is indeed impressive, Nikki....but actually it doesn't tell us much.

Why?

Because it's what gets into the baby that counts :)  It's clear from 
observation that most mothers are physiologically capable of 
producing far more than their babies need to survive and thrive, 
anyway.

It's a clue - if mothers can produce over this wide range, then it's 
probably the case that babies can survive and thrive over a wide 
range too.  But we are no nearer knowing what an *individual* baby 
needs to survive and thrive at any one week, day, hour.

None of this matters a bit, of course, if we are talking about 
healthy, thriving babies . And I really cannot see the benefit of 
test weighing in these circumstances - weighing focuses on ounces and 
we  really should be getting away from that notion, when there is 
clearly no problem with the ounces.  Weighing is an intervention - it 
should always be justifiable.

But if compromised or sick or otherwise challenging babies are being 
test weighed to see whether they are taking the 'right' amount of 
milk - that is , for clinical reasons -  then the fact we don't know 
what that individual baby needs makes the arithmatic no more than an 
informed  guess.  There is always room for informed guesswork, of 
course there is, but lets be honest that this is what it is.....and 
not a precisely calculated amount based on certain knowledge of that 
baby's needs.

Heather Welford Neil
NCT bfc, tutor, UK

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