Gonneke asks:

<<Does anyone know were those often circulating numbers of 2 or 5% true 
lactation impossibility might com from?>>

Jim Akre, in "Breastfeeding:  The Physiological Basis" states that the number 
of women physiologically unable to breastfeed is less than 2%.  Marianne 
Neifert gave 5% on page 303 of the book she & Neville edited in about 1985 (the 
name of it escapes me now -- I'm not at home), and Gary Ezzo states that "at 
least 5% and up to 10% in wartime...." and of course we all know what a lactation 
expert HE is!!

My suspicion is that we are seeing higher and higher numbers in the US of A 
-- but they are actually related to secondary issues rather than primary -- in 
that there are an increased number of women with breast surgery, augmentation 
or reduction, an increased number of women with infertility issues (hormonal) 
getting pregnant through high tech fertility programs who would have been 
"barren" in days of yore, and a much higher percentage of older women birthing 
babies (their first) when functional breast tissue may be on the wane.

And then there are the lactational mysteries like my own Jill for which there 
is no known cause for IMS.  

So factoring in all of the above, there may be a higher percentage of women 
in 2005 that are unable to produce sufficient milk than there were in 1975, for 
example, but if we factor OUT all of the above except the true primary 
causes, I suspect we are down to around 1 to 2%.  

Jan Barger, RN, MA, IBCLC
Wheaton IL
http://www.motherofbridebyjan.blogspot.com/

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