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Subject:
From:
"Catherine Watson Genna BS, IBCLC" <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Lactation Information and Discussion <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Thu, 10 Mar 2011 00:00:38 -0500
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Fat is made in balance with the protein and lactose of milk (the same 
basic enzymatic process keeps them in balance) but the fat collects at 
the cell membrane and is not secreted until the MER affects the 
individual lactocyte.

Biology is my fav science, but I like to read physics too. You're right 
that bio is much fuzzier and has more variability and exceptions to rules!

Again, the most important thing is volume of milk intake, it's the rare 
infant who gets plenty of milk but grows poorly.

Catherine Watson Genna BS, IBCLC  NYC  cwgenna.com


On 2/25/2011 10:25 AM, Rosemary McNaughton wrote:
> Thanks for your detailed response!
>
> When you say the breast is continuing to secrete "all the other milk
> components" thereby diluting the fat again, do you mean to say that fat is
> preferentially not made because of the presence of fat globules?  Is there a
> feedback mechanism for milk component content? Or that the same mix is made
> again, and that dilutes the higher fat milk already in the breast?
>
> My education background is in physics and astrophysics, so I tend to think
> in terms of conserved quantities, and biological processes can frighten and
> confuse me :) (LLL has been a good corrective to my tendency to reductionist
> thinking) - so I wonder if I'm missing something about what happens to the
> fat - how can a baby consistently get lower-fat milk to the point of
> suffering from it?  Why does the fat not eventually end up going to the
> baby?  And yet I work with plenty of moms who are in this situation and can
> resolve it with changed breastfeeding&pumping management.
>
> If there is some feedback mechanism and the presence of fat hanging around
> causes lower fat new milk to be made, then wouldn't mothers with high
> storage capacity who tend to do large, infrequent feeds have lower fat milk
> on average?  I thought frequent small feeds meant more similar mix of milk
> components throughout the feed, and larger less frequent feeds meant a
> greater variety in the mix during the feed, but the same average level of
> components.
>
> -Rosemary McNaughton
> LLLL, NMC Counselor
> Northampton, Massachusetts, USA
>
> On Thu, Feb 24, 2011 at 9:37 PM, Catherine Watson Genna BS, IBCLC<
> [log in to unmask]>  wrote:
>
>> [snip]
>> If the baby nurses again soon, the milk will be higher in fat. If it is a
>> longer time, the breast will again dilute the fat that is already in the
>> ducts from the previous MER by continuing to secrete all the other milk
>> components into the lumen.
>>
>> Make sense now?
>>
>>
>> Catherine Watson Genna BS, IBCLC  NYC  cwgenna.com
>>
>>
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