Sigh -- thank you Jane for correcting my glaringly obvious error in terms of this being teaspoons and not tablespoons!! I guess I flunked that part of baking - or at least has a serious memory lapse.



I am not enough of a baker to use an electronic scale.  As I understood from Jean's post -- the instructions were for teaspoons, not grams.  So whoever figured the ratio out to begin with was basing it on the volume of powder not the weight of the powder


Having measured breastmilk to death with a scale and by volume -- the specific gravity is so close to water that it makes no difference whatsoever in the volume - the volume and the mass are close enough even accounting for variations in fat to not worry about. 


As for powder, its not just the volume versus weight problem - it is also what happens when you mix the powder with the breast milk. And yes, I did mention that this needs to be taken into account and I see no way to figure that out unless I actually had breastmilk and powder to mix.


But basically now that my error has been identified -- the ratio is 5 ml to 50 ml since both are using volume measurements which means that for 10 ml of breast milk you need to add 1 ml of the powder.  The issue then is what happens to the total volume once you mix the two together.

So, if I had access to breast milk and the powder, I'd mix the 5 ml to the 50 ml per the instructions -- mix it well and then see if it measured out at 55 ml or something less than that once mixed.   Based on that I'd then make up the remainder using a 1:10 ratio of powder to breastmilk. 

Best, Susan

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

Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]
Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask]
COMMANDS:
1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: set lactnet nomail
2. To start it again: set lactnet mail
3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome