There is one study, done ages ago, of some ethnic group in southeast Asia, where the women traditionally only nursed from one side (something about paddling canoes, sorry for the vagueness). At any rate, the rate of breast cancer in the lactating breast was extremely low, while the rate in the non-used breast was the 1 out of 9 we see in industrialized countries. Also, for a sample size of 1 (me): my left breast never 'worked' as well as the right, perhaps because I had a tendency to nurse my first child on the right side so I could take notes in class with my left hand (I am left handed). Eventually, that side made less and less, so she liked it less and less, and for the last year of her 4 years of nursing, she nursed only from the right side. Three years after she weaned completely, I had a benign (?) lump removed from the left breast, 12 o'clock position, circum-areolar incision, lots of milk ducts severed -- but at that point I didn't plan on having any more children. Four years after that, I had my last child -- the left side again didn't produce much and he didn't like that side. I used to trick him in bed at night when it was dark, but otherwise, forget it. I'd estimated 75% of his 5.5 years of nursing was done on the right side. Three years after he weaned, I had a malignant lump removed from the left breast in *exactly* the same place as the previous 'benign' lump. For what it's worth . . . Kathy Dettwyler _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com *********************************************** 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