Susan Burger wrote:
".as for draining the breast -- they aren't ever drained.  So why do we talk
about "draining" when the latest research suggests that a fair bit of milk
is left in the breast even by an efficiently feeding three month old?"

Susan, when I first heard Peter Hartman and his research group using
"drain," I assumed the word was chosen to solve the problems people had with
using the word "empty." Everyone objected to the thought of "emptying" milk
from a breast because of the implication that once that has been done, the
breast is "empty." To my ear, "drain" has a less strong connotation that the
process of "draining" leaves the container completely "drained." But that
connotation is still there. You hear it, obviously. "Draining" the oil from
a crankcase is supposed to leave the crankcase "empty." But "draining" a
wound may just remove the excess, leaving some fluid behind.

What English words do we have that describe the process of removing a
portion of the contents of a container, but not all of the contents? 

You can "pour" from a pitcher or a wine bottle, and assume there is more
left. 
You can "tap" a keg or a sugar maple. 
You can "draw" money from your bank account or "draw" water from a well or a
glass.and that takes us back to the old term "draught" for the milk ejection
reflex. (Here, I would love to refer ILCA members to my very first
publication http://jhl.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/1/3/47. Note, however, that
the JHL messed up the citation. The correct line from Mother Goose is "Cushy
cow bonny, let down thy milk.")

I actually have no problem with "drain." To me it has less of a focus on the
"empty" status of the "container" once the process is complete, and more of
a focus on the process of removing the contents. The baby is draining milk
from the breast. The breast is being drained of milk. The milk is being
drained. But we know that the breast is NOT a container and that the whole
process is dynamic. Milk is being added from the inside as well as removed
to the outside.like water in a well or sap in a maple tree. There is a
balance between the baby's need (communicated to the breast by the pattern
of the baby's "draining" activity or suckling) and the breast's response.

When Hartman's group talks of a breast being "thoroughly drained of milk,"
what I hear is that the "drainer" (ugh! horrible word), whether a baby, a
hand, or a pump, can't get any more milk out at the moment. That would be a
moment to make any sort of measurement you wanted to make if you were a
researcher. But I don't hear "thoroughly drained of milk" as connoting
anything more than a moment. If the stimulus for milk production is the
"emptiness" of the breast, then a breast that is "thoroughly drained of
milk" is probably making new milk at the fastest rate.just as a breast that
is chock-full of milk is making milk at the slowest possible rate.

Always more to ponder.
Chris

Chris Mulford, BSN, IBCLC
Project Coordinator, the PA-BC Business Case for Breastfeeding
Co-coordinator, Women & Work Task Force, World Alliance for Breastfeeding
Action
 "When she gives birth, every woman has the potential resource of breastmilk
for two years or more. This ample food resource is perfectly targeted,
already distributed to households with the need, and should be controlled by
the mother and baby." --Helen Armstrong (1995) 
Breastfeeding as the foundation of care. Food and Nutrition Bulletin, United
Nations Univ Press, 16:4, 299-312.



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