Denise Hartley's  post on high sodium content in breastmilk reminded me of a
mother who told me that after repeated bouts of mastitis, her baby was very
reluctant to feed from the affected side.  Due to the mastitis she knew that
her milk supply was much less from that side.  Baby was very reluctant to feed
from that side and would draw away v quickly from that breast.  She noticed
that the baby made an expression on its face - 'Oooooh, really don't like the
taste of this milk...  So mum tasted the milk from the non affected side, milk
tasted v sweet, she tasted milk from affected breast and it had a pronounced
salty taste.  I can't remember what she did, no doubt I encouraged her to
think about expressing frequently to up the supply.  I know she carried on
feeding so all must have been well in the end - youv'e most probably realised
from my past postings that I have an atrocious memory.  I know that I have
seen either anecdotal articles or research on higher sodium content after
unresolved block ducts/mastitis but can't put my hand to it at the mo.

I am also led to believe that hand-expressed milk as opposed to pump expressed
milk may result in a higher sodium content, which is beneficial for babies
born before 32 weeks
Lang S, Lawrence CJ & L'E Orme R (1994) Sodium in hand and pump expressed
human breast milk.  Early Dev 38: 131-138.
Regards, Helen Woodman, NCT Breastfeeding Counsellor UK