Jan says:

>
>Ahhh -- but the caloric content of mother's milk changes to meet the needs
of
>the infant.  Susan Carlson who spoke at an ILCA conference in '92 discussed
>the fact that while the "average" caloric content of human milk in the
first
>few weeks was about 20 kcal/oz, it is 26 kcal/oz at about 4 months.


Yes, yes.....and the baby does this, doesn't she, in partnership with
the mother, by removing hindmilk more efficiently, so the calorie
density of the milk goes up, on the whole, as the baby grows. There
are some refs in Riordan and Auerbach of studies which show how the
*volume* of milk taken does not actually increase after (from memory)
three months or so.

Size - or volume - is far from everything. That goes for breasts (see
Rachels friend with the 'micro-breass' who fed twins) *and* milk.

This is another reason (as Jan says) why test weighing - which only
ever mesures volume taken, and even then inaccurately, and even then
arbitrarily as it is only done at one feed - is full of pitfalls.

>Also,
>babies' energy needs decrease as they get older, and they aren't growing as
>quickly.

Yes - and don't need a whole lot of extra calories in order to
process its digestion - contrast with formula.

Heather Welford Neil
NCT bfc Newcastle upon Tyne UK

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