Cathy,
You wrote, "For instance I have been measuring sIgA and lactoferrin (among
other things) in women with a perceived oversupply and their concentrations
of these components are significantly (statistically) higher than the
norm-not what I would have expected."

I don't find that surprising or unexpected.  Why?  We know from various
studies (Semba et al.) that these components are higher than the norm in
colostrum and during weaning.  Thus, women who have a perceived (key word)
oversupply of breastmilk are actually in a state of weaning.  Their
perception is that they have a ton of milk because of full breasts and full
breasts have a tendency to trigger forcefull ejection reflexes. Yet full
breasts or engorged breasts are not a sign of an oversupply of milk.  In fact
I would say that often they are a sign of erratic nursing patterns or mothers
who go too long between nursings.  The breast tissue is actually lowering
production of milk because the mother is not nursing enough.  Small, frequent
nursing on both sides used to be the standard answer to oversupply issues.
Now all I hear is nurse on one side over and over again.  Which in my opinion
is risky behavior because this kind of erratic nursing risks plugged ducts
and breast infections.  So actually, your information confirms my thoughts
that oversupply is a perception problem either by the mother or the LC.  What
we are actually seeing is breastmilk production shutting down(weaning)
causing higher levels of IgA and lactoferrin.

I agree with Heather that "immune components are going to differ between
mothers, between babies and between feeds..."  There was a recent study
(sorry can't remember the name of it) that showed that immune components are
substantially higher in the breastmilk of mothers who live in poorer
environments than mothers who live in better environments.  Which confirms
the dynamic nature of breastmilk.  The higher the level of germs in the
environment the higher the levels of immune components become in order to
combat these pathogens.  No wonder that James P. Grant spoke of breastfeeding
as being the safety net against the ill effects of poverty. Thus our
breastmilk responds to the environment in a dynamic way.  If we need higher
protection, it will provide a level of higher protection.  If we think about
it there are actually 2 times during the lactation period that higher levels
of immune components are really vital for the survival of the infant--the
newborn period and during weaning.  I find it profoundly comforting that our
bodies have this magnificent system to keep our infants protected.  Valerie
W. McClain, IBCLC









             ***********************************************
The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html