Marley asks

< Years
ago I read that a breast would be emptied of the bulk of the milk  supply
(per feeding) in approximately 12-15 minutes regardless of the age of the
baby.  Is this still an accurate statement?>

Sure doesn't seem like it to me, even before Dr. Peter Hartmann's
research that is showing that the very thoroughness of milk removal is
one of the main determinants of how much and how rapidly new milk will be
produced. I may not be stating that 100% accurately, but I think that is
the gist.

Though your question referred to "the bulk of the milk", your subject
line used the word "emptying", a term which I think confuses mothers,
because strictly speaking, a breast that is still lactating is really
never totally empty. Relatively less full, perhaps, but not totally
empty.

First of all, different mothers seem to have different storage capacities
(caution: storage capacity is different from production capability), by
virtue of the fact that the ductwork connecting the alveoli to the milk
reservoirs is simply longer in mothers with more pendulous breasts.

The inner circumference could differ in different mothers too, and not
necessarily be related to whether the ducts are long or short. So
measuring the actual volume capacity of an individual mother's breast(s)
is probably quite complicated, and even then, would probably be just a
highly educated guess, since milk secretion is a dynamic, constant
process.

Some mothers can store so much that the baby would be zonked out after
removing perhaps only 50% (or less) of what is stored in just one breast
in a shorter time than 12-15 minutes.

Others with small storage capacities might have to feed both breasts and
return to the first one, and perhaps continue to nurse for 20-30 minutes
or more, and use breast compression for their baby to end up with about
the same total volume that feeding as the hypothetical baby above.

The efficacy of the mother's MER, especially if it were overactive, and
the depth and efficacy of the baby's latch are two more important factors
in how rapidly milk would be transferred out of the breast. Some babys
get a good grip and a fire-hose worth of response from mom and are ready
to call it quits and relax into satiation after only 10 minutes or less
at the breast.

There are so many possible variables just in one mother-baby dyad
let alone among different dyads.  I think the "degree-of-emptiness"
dilemma is much better addressed by teaching the individual mom to
perceive the relative change in her breast fullness pre- and
post-feeding. It is also important to teach her to read the baby's body
language pre-and post-feed, to reduce her  concerns about feeding
adequacy that way, rather than trying to reduce it to some "average" time
generalization, IMHO.

K. Jean Cotterman RNC IBCLC
Dayton, Ohio USA

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