On Sunday, January 19, there was a small article in the Chicago Tribune that
stated, "Young mothers need formula."  The article starts:

"Adolescent mother MUST (emphasis mine) supplement their babies' diets with
formula because they don not produce enough breastmilk to fill the
nutritional needs of their children, says Dr. Kathleen J. Motil, an assistant
professior of pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine.

"Mothers between the ages of 13 & 18 produce one fourth less milk than
adults, Motil found in a study..."

It goes on to say that they don't know why teenagers produce less milk, but
at the end of the article, she says, "One possible reason for the lower
production of breastmilk is that adolescent mothers tend to nurse less
frequently."  (Duh!!)

"We don't know which comes first, whether young mothers are low to begin with
so they supplement, or whether the mothers start supplements and as a
consequence the infants have less need to suck vigorously and empty the
breast."

Besides the article being totally STUPID (yes, I'm shouting), it verifies in
many minds that teenage mothers can't produce enough milk.  (Actually, in my
personal opinion, I have found that young mothers often produce copious
amounts of milk IF they will breastfeed as the baby needs!).  And how come
this doc doesn't seem to KNOW that if a woman (teenager or 45 year old)
doesn't breastfeed frequently and adequately she won't produce enough milk?
 It doesn't have to do with inadequate milk making apparatus.

Tradition has it that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was about 14 when Jesus was
born.  Do you suppose she supplemented with Enfamil or Isomil?  Given the age
that women bore children in days of yore, the human race would have died out
long ago if teenage mothers were unable to produce enough milk.

Does anyone (Kathy Dettwyler, are you there?) know anything about this
"study" she mentions?  Or anything about her?  Anyone know anything about
Baylor?

ARGHHHHH!!!!

Jan Barger, RN, MA, IBCLC
http://members.aol.com/bsccenter