Hi Julie- 

The answer is yes. Galipeau has a great graph showing that as the number of feeds per day go up, the faster the sodium count drops, and that is indicative of gap junction closure which is part of the transition to Lact 2. This is why Jane Morton is passionate about early and frequent colostrum removal, both for hastening Lact 2 and for more milk in general.



I used to think that it was a purely hormonal process, too. But I've read studies from other countries with more traditional cultures (read: babies feed more often than here) where the "controls" experienced onset around 24 hours and the affected group took 48 hours....  that was an eye-opener for me.



~Lisa Marasco



Galipeau, R., Goulet, C., & Chagnon, M. (2012). Infant and maternal factors influencing breastmilk sodium among primiparous mothers. Breastfeed Med, 7, 290-294. doi:10.1089/bfm.2011.0022



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