Thanks for your response Jaye. 

I still have some questions.  You said that "We have this nice little
formula - 2.5 times the baby's weight that gives us a guideline for intake
over a 24 hour time-period."  Where does this formula come from?  Who
decided that this tells us how much human milk every human baby needs?  The
Hartmann team research showed quite clearly that intake does not increase
between 1 month of age and six months of age in normal, healthy, growing,
exclusively breastfed infants.  They found that some thriving infants took
less than 500ml (16oz) in 24 hours over those five months and some took
close to 2 litres (67oz). (In which case 11 ounces (~330mls) in 24hrs may
indeed be enough milk for a 7 day old 8 pounder - the only way I could tell
is by looking at the output and behaviour of the baby - is she alert?
Satisfied after feeds? Sleeping between feeds for an hour or more - but not
more than 3.)

I understand that quantitative measures provide the only evidence that is
acceptable in some societies - and I can see that they have been used
advantageously in some scenarios (to convince docs or mothers that
intervention is or is not required) - but I still don't know how they really
help us make an assessment of sufficiency - given that we don't know how
much 'sufficient' will be.  What if the mother who was unsure that her baby
was taking enough milk (in spite of good evidence she was) took home the
scale and discovered that her baby was one of those who took less than 20oz
per day (and now weighs 4kg or 9lbs)?

Regards
Nina Berry
Australia

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