The original 5% figure came from a study done in the 1950s in Australia,
where the mothers were allowed to nurse one minute per side every 4 hours
the first day, 2 minutes per side every 4 hours the second day, 3 minutes
per side every 4 hours the third day, etc.  Fully 95% of women on this
restrictive schedule still brought in a perfectly adequate milk supply.  5%
did not.

I do not have the time to dig out the references for this, but Betty Crase
and I collaborated on tracking this down several years ago, and she is the
one who does the conference presentations outlining each step -- from the
original Australian study, to an article by Dana Raphael that quotes that
study, to others who quote Raphael, etc.

I would *not* be surprised to know definitively that 5% of the clients that
Dr. Neifert sees at her clinic for women with serious lactation
difficulties fall into the category of being "truly biologically incapable
of producting enough milk."  But the people she sees at her clinic are a
tiny sub-sample of the general population.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Katherine A. Dettwyler, Ph.D.                         email:
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Anthropology Department                               phone: (409) 845-5256
Texas A&M University                                    fax: (409) 845-4070
College Station, TX  77843-4352
http://www.prairienet.org/laleche/dettwyler.html

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