>I never heard of this... "storage capacity" of a breast... Oddball question:
>then does this explain why some women are able to produce larger VOLUMES of
>milk than other women, or why some babies might want to feed more often than
>others?

Absolutely! And not an oddball question. One mother Peter Hartmann studied
had such a large storage capacity in her breasts that she could have fed
only once a day and her baby would have got enough (*if* the baby's stomach
had been big enough to hold it all at once!!). Another, at the other end of
the scale, had a very small capacity but was easily able to make enough
milk for her baby, as long as she fed on average about two-hourly, I think.
If she had tried to feed on a four-hourly schedule, she would have failed
at breastfeeding. This explains how four-hourly feeding taught in the past
used to work for some mothers but not others. We are all so different, that
we really can't have rules like this. The bottom line is to trust the baby
to ask for the amount of feeds he or she needs - ie watch the baby, not the
clock. But of course, I am now preaching to the choir.

Joy Anderson IBCLC, NMAA Breastfeeding Counsellor
Perth, Western Australia
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