I always love Diane Wiessinger's posts because they give me new things to
think about.  I was interested in the concern she expressed about whether
toddlers are being restricted in terms of their milk intake by mothers who
are limiting nursing (in order to gradually wean) but who are not replacing
the milk feeds with either cow milk or formula.  I guess the place to start
when trying to figure out if this is a problem is to look at how much milk
toddlers are obtaining when they nurse.  I agree that the vol. is probably
higher than we'd guess from their sporadic, acrobatic, but probably very
efficient nursing styles. I've seen mothers of two toddlers this week (one
10 months who weighs 25 lbs and doesn't eat solids, and the other 12 mo. who
weighs about the same and doesn't yet show much interest in solids.)  It
didn't occur to me to do test weights on them due to their obviously healthy
statures.  Now I am thinking it was a missed opportunity.  Thanks to Diane
putting this idea into my head, I am going to start asking if I can do test
weights of the older babies too, just to start having some frame of
reference.  It would be fun if others who have this opportunity could do
this.  A single test weight is not going to give us the whole picture on
anything, but I have to confess I have no clue how much milk it takes to
sustain a big, non-solid eating toddler.  Especially given the info (at
least the theoretical info) that the energy requirements drop after 5-6 mo.
pp and the vols don't need to be all that high.  Is this, in fact true?
Both the moms I saw with these large nurslings had chronic breast problems:
caked duct pores with painful blebs, and episodic mastitis.

Barbara


Barbara Wilson-Clay, BS, IBCLC
Private Practice, Austin, Texas
Owner, Lactnews On-Line Conference Page
http://moontower.com/bwc/lactnews.html