Pat, you asked if I had or plan to write a letter to Pediatrics in regard to
the Rasmussen study.  I haven't written a letter yet.  I did want to add some
comments to my other comments in regard to this study.  While taking prolactin
levels before an infant feeds and then 30 minutes after the infant latches
on, would seem to give a good indication of prolactin levels, there is one
problem with this method.

"At 48 hours and again at 7 days postpartum, 3-mL blood samples were drawn
from nonfasting participants just before the infant latched on to breastfeed and
again 30 minutes later. The time at the beginning of the nursing episode and
its duration were recorded."

A baby can supposedly latch on and go to sleep--particularly in the early
days.  Who monitored the breastfeeding?  The details are important.  What
constitutes a breastfed?  I believe that a study on prolactin levels would have to
have these details.  The prolactin levels for the infants of the
overweight/obese mothers at 48 hours postfeed went below the baseline prolactin level.  Is it
possible that some of these mothers had infants that were not sucking at the
breast but just hanging out?  Was the breastfeeding itself monitored by an
IBCLC at the 48 hour mark or were the mothers reporting that the infant
breastfed?
Lots of questions...we need more detail to believe this study's hypothesis.
Valerie W. McClain, IBCLC

             ***********************************************

To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]

The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html