I've enjoyed the recent discussion of foremilk/hindmilk.

I like a description by Michael Woolridge in his chapter, "Baby-Controlled
Breastfeeding: Biocultural Implications" in  the book, "Breastfeeding:
Biocultural Perspectives," edited by Patricia Stuart-Macadam and Katherine
A. Dettwyler, New York: Aldine De Gruyter, 1995, in footnote # 6 on page
238:

"Hytten (1954) proposed and tested a physical model of milk storage and
delivery.  He immersed a natural sponge in whole milk and left it for some
period, then gradually compressed milk from the sponge; the first milk
draining off was low in fat, similar to foremilk, and with progressive milk
removal the fat concentration rose, finally approximating to hindmilk.  The
explanation he proposed was that fat droplets, being adherent, became
adsorbed onto the internal luminal walls of the sponge, and that sustained
milk removal was necessary to dislodge the adherent fat.  His physical model
of storage and delivery duplicated the changes in fat concentration during
milk removal sufficiently closely that it has not been necessary to invoke
further models.
    Several observations can be explained by this model such as the fact
that 'drip milk' from the breast not being suckled approximates to foremilk
(Lucas, Gibbs and Baum, 1978; Stocks, Davies, Carroll, Broderick and Parker,
1983), and that manual massage of the breast can increase the fat content by
dislodging adhered fat globules (Bowles, Stutte and Henssley, 1988)...."

I find that mothers can easily relate to the analogy of a sponge dipped into
a bowl of milk, with the thinner foremilk dripping off first, and the fat
cells clinging to the sponge.  Squeezing the sponge (or continued suckling)
then gets those fat-rich cells to release.

Could this also explain why breast compression helps?

Anne Altshuler, RN. MS, IBCLC and LLL leader in Madison, WI

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

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