Just to reinforce the msg about ovaries and breastfeeding...one does NOT need ovaries to breastfeed. Hysterectomies (complete or otherwise) should NOT have any effect on current or relactation or induced lactation success in the case of an adoption. I have helped women in all three of these situations successfully lactate fully. This is one of those classic myth things and I often refer people to K.Dettwyler's Biocultural Perspectives On Breastfeeding regarding some of these myths. One of the best examples of ovaries not being necesssary are the cases of men lactating (and not with a pituitary tumor causing prolactinemia). Whenever I explain (which usually involves me drawing a little diagram from the breast to the pituitary) the dynamics of nipple stimulation and milk removal, with what oxytocin and pitocin do, people seem to marvel at the "magic" that one doesn't have to have a uterus or ovaries (it is kind of magical but then again so is making a baby in the sense that there are so many points where things can go wrong). Buena Salud y Paz, Chris ________________________________________________________________________ Check Out the new free AIM(R) Mail -- 2 GB of storage and industry-leading spam and email virus protection. *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] The LACTNET email list is powered by LISTSERV (R). There is only one LISTSERV. To learn more, visit: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html