Lisa wrote about a mom of a 3 month old producing 32 oz a day by pumping, with
the comment "that doesn't seem like enough."  After treatment for yeast, mom's
supply went UP to 50 oz per day, although mom would like to wean.

We should remember that about 25-28 oz per day is the average daily milk
output reported in many studies [See page 82 of Nutrition during Lactation.].
As an average, that means that some moms make more and some less, but 32 oz
for a 3 month old who is healthy and gaining well sounds fine to me, and 50 oz
per day for a singleton sounds like oversupply.

Somewhere I read a comment questioning the validity of the 25 oz per day
figure.  That author referred to studies from Australia that routinely
reported a greater than 25-28 oz per day output.  His implication was that
women elsewhere just weren't trying hard enough.  They could produce more if
only they did it right!

We have to keep in mind that if the baby is growing well---and of course the
standards for "growing well" have been a matter of debate for several
decades---then it's a pretty safe assumption that he or she is getting the
"right" amount of milk.  Rather than counting the ounces per day, let's assess
growth and development, which are after all the "final cause" of milk
production.  The milk is a vehicle for transferring nutrients from the
environment to the baby---they just pass through the mother's body first!

I'm eagerly awaiting the WHO growth charts due early next century.  They
should give us a valid standard for "growing well" based on breastfed babies
from several different continents.

It's my impression that measuring milk output has got us into lots of trouble
in the past century.  It has allowed people to see human milk and man-made
substitutes as equivalent.  "You can measure formula; you can measure human
milk; so they must be pretty much the same stuff."  Then the difference
between how much a breastfed baby gets and how much a formula fed baby gets
becomes an unsettling question, and people start trying to feed breastfed
babies more so they'll match the overstuffed artificially fed babies.

Not that I would want anyone to stop doing basic research!  That's one of the
most exciting things about our field---the fact that in the last decade or two
so much has been figured out about how lactation and breastfeeding work.  But
we have to be careful in how we interpret what we read---and we need to be
gentle but firm in correcting misinterpretations by people who "bottle" the
breast.

Chris Mulford
Just south of Philadelphia
"You've got to know what you think, because tomorrow you might have the
opportunity to say it." ---Selma James