Great post, Kathy. Thank you for this. >Also, while most intake calculations are based on kilo of body weight, human >variation includes vast differences in metabolism and activity level, so >that babies who weigh the same may need very different amounts of breast >milk or formula to grow optimally, while two babies of very different sizes >may need exactly the same. That is one reason why it is best to let the >baby be the one to decide how much to eat, at the breast, rather than trying >to use "one size fits all" calculations about so many ounces of formula per >ounce of body weight. This fits perfectly with the findings of Peter Hartmann's students' studies on volumes taken by normal exclusively-breastfed thriving infants. They found consistent daily volume intake for any one baby all through the study period from one to 6 months - no increasing amount as baby grew bigger, but differing amounts between babies. Joy ****************************************************************** Joy Anderson B.Sc. Dip.Ed. Grad.Dip.Med.Tech. IBCLC Nursing Mothers' Association of Australia breastfeeding counsellor Perth, Western Australia. mailto:[log in to unmask] ****************************************************************** *********************************************** 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