Cynthia, I volunteered to speak to my daughter's third grade class too. Since their theme for the year is "Change", I thought I'd talk about the changes in culture that made lactation consultants neccessary, the changes in scientific knowlege that led to artificial feeding and then back to the realization that mother's milk can't be duplicated, and how human milk changes with the baby's changing needs. I also will talk about the species specificity of milk as related to parenting style and other habitat issues. In a simplified manner, of course. If your son has already learned about mammals, you have the perfect "in". Species specificity is a good place to start, kids love learning about animals, telling them that seal milk has lots of fat to give baby energy and warmth while mom is away for a week or two feeding herself; whale milk has lots of fat so baby grows fast and stays warm; squirrel milk and rabbit milk is very concentrated (very little water) since mom doesn't want to draw predators to the nest by visiting often, and her vegetarian diet makes her need to feed most of the day; calves and horses need to grow strong bones and muscles to follow mom around as she grazes so their milk has lots of protein, calcium, and other minerals; and human babies have to grow their big brains so they can be smart, so human milk has lots of lactose, special fats, and less protein so baby wakes up to feed more often and learns more, etc. What do you think? -- Catherine Watson Genna, IBCLC NYC mailto:[log in to unmask]