Lisa Marasco wrote:
>I do not have experience with good supply PRL levels-- only with poor
>supply. I'm curious as to what others have seen in PRL testing.

Lisa, there are results for prolactin in one of Peter Hartmann's
team's articles:
Cox D, Owens RA & Hartmann PE, 1996, Blood and milk prolactin and the
rate of milk synthesis in women,  Exper Physiol 81: 1007-102

This study was looking at whether prolactin correlated with supply
and it is the one where they discovered that prolactin decreases over
time (1 to 6 months) but that supply remained *constant*, ie did not
increase as baby grew bigger (ie intake *not* related to weight of
baby).

Excerpt from Results:
<<After statistical analysis to control for individual variation,
there was a significant decline in the basal concentration of
prolactin in the plasma (prolactin concentration at least 90 min
after a breastfeed) from 119 +- 19.1 ug/l (n=24) and 121 +- 18.3 ug/l
(n=32) at 1 and 2 months respectively, to 71 +- 8.1 ug/l (n=31) at 4
months and 59 +- 5.7 ug/l (n=26) at 6 months (mixed model analysis; P
= 0.0001).

At 1 month postpartum the mean concentration of prolactin in the
plasma 45 min after the commencement of feeding (suckling-stimulated
concentration) was 286 +- 22.6 ug/l (n=23) and by 2, 4 and 6 months,
this had decreased significantly, to 218 +- 24.1 ug/l (n=31), 139 +-
16.4 ug/l (n=30) and 91 +- 8.7 ug/l (n=26), respectively, after
statistical analysis to control for individual variation (mixed model
analysis; P=0.0001).

Similarly, following statistical analysis to control for individual
variation, the magnitude of the increase in the suckling-stimulated
concentration of prolactin in the plasma declined significantly, from
172 +- 29.0 ug/l (n=24) at 1 month to 98 +- 21.5 ug/l (n=32), 70 +-
13.1 ug/l (n=29) and 31 +- 5.0 ug/l (n=25) at 2, 4 and 6 months
respectively (mixed modal analysis; P=0.0001).>>

I hope this helps with the figures, Lisa.

Joy
******************************************************************
Joy Anderson B.Sc. Dip.Ed. Grad.Dip.Med.Tech. IBCLC
Australian Breastfeeding Association counsellor
Perth, Western Australia.   mailto:[log in to unmask]
******************************************************************

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