The following is from Bonnie Bedford's website.  I doubt the site is
still since Bonnie's death due to breast cancer.

from Bonnie Bedford's site:  http://www.hunter.net/~bedford/br-info.html

            That Pesky 5% Figure: How Many Women Are Unable to Produce
Enough Milk?
            By Katherine A. Dettwyler, Ph.D.


 Rachael also mentioned the issue of how many women physiologically are
incapable of lactating. The 5% figure was bandied about in the press the
summer of 1994. Where did this come from? I don't have the references on
this topic here at home, but I can tell you the tale, and you can check
it
out for yourselves.
            The Wall Street Journal published an article on July 22 or
23,
1994, which mentioned the 5% figure of modern women who could not
produce
enough milk for their infants. When questioned, they said they got this
figure from Mary Ann Neifert, who runs a breastfeeding clinic in Denver.
She
deals with women who are already having problems, and of course the vast
majority of women have no problems, so she never sees them.

            She said 5% of her clinic population seem unable to produce
enough milk. She also said this was true of the general population,
however,
and referred inquirers to one of Dana Raphael's books (she has written
several on breastfeeding, including "The Tender Gift" and "Only Mothers
Know" and I'm not sure which book was cited in this context. Anyway, if
you
go to Raphael's discussion of this, SHE cites a study in New Zealand
that
found 5% of mothers in a hospital study couldn't produce enough milk. If
you
go read the New Zealand hospital study, which was done in the 1950s, it
turns out that the study had mothers nursing their newborns for one
minute
on each side every 4 hours the first day of life, for 2 minutes on each
side
every 4 hours the second day of life, for 3 minutes on each side every 4
hours the third day of life, and so on. What is amazing is that ANY of
these
women produced significant amounts of milk, given the infrequency of
feeding
and the short duration of each feed. And yet 95% were producing at least
some milk.

            The scientific literature shows conclusively that the more
often
the infant nurses, the greater the mother's milk supply (assuming the
baby
is latched on properly) AND the higher the fat content of her milk.
Michael
Woolridge of England has published extensively on this topic, and his
research shows that children allowed to nurse on cue regulate their own
intake in terms of quantity and fat content to be just what they need.
Scheduled feedings and limiting the duration of the child on the breast
at a
feed are sure-fire ways to reduce milk supply. For a fascinating
perspective
on the history of the medical profession's love-affair with scheduled
feedings, see the article by A.V. Millard in the journal Social Science
and
Medicine, 31(2):211-221. The title of the article is "The Place of the
Clock
in Pediatric Advice," and it was published in 1990.

            Many, many women are told by their pediatricians to nurse
only
so many times a day, and to limit the duration of the baby's nursing
sessions. The baby doesn't remove enough milk, so less and less is made
(breast milk production is a demand-driven system) and the baby seems
more
fussy and fails to gain weight properly. The mother is told by her
doctor
that "She doesn't have enough milk" and must supplement. The supplements
interfere even more with the nursing, and soon the baby is completely
weaned. The baby's health is the loser, as is the mother's
self-confidence
and self-esteem. The winners? The infant formula industry, and,
indirectly,
the pediatrician, who now gets to treat more ear infections, more
allergies,
more diarrhea, etc. etc. etc.

            Katherine A. Dettwyler, Ph.D.
            Associate Professor of Anthropology
            Texas A&M University
            co-editor of "Breastfeeding: Biocultural Perspectives" and
specialist in infant feeding and growth
            e-mail to [log in to unmask]



© 1996, 1997 Bonnie Bedford
-- 
Monique
Noah 6/97, Melissa 6/23/00
[log in to unmask]

The same phrase describes my marriage and my breasts:
before the kids, they used to be such a cute couple.
Amy Krouse Rosenthall

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