>If it is true, as seems to be indicated by some research, that milk intake is
static for the first months, <
I hate to complicate things, but the research is more complicated than
that. Yes, the average intake at 1 and 4 months is about the same. But
averages are not individuals. Remember all those overfed blurting breastfed
babies with mothers who had huge oversupply, who by 3-4 months are no
longer possetting but happily eating less than they did at one month. Or
those underfed hungry babies at one month who are always wanting more and
by 3-4 months are getting it, as mother's supply has increased. Then there
are the ones who have eaten much the same volume but changed the proportion
of fat intake by feeding more vigorously, massaging the breast themselves,
and so on. Averages include all these babies, since all can be gaining
weight at levels that are acceptable though not necessarily optimal for
that individual.

>it does seem logical that "growth spurts" and an increase in nursings
>would be the baby's way of priming the prolactin levels<
Yes...Maybe too, the baby is aware that supply is dropping as BASAL
prolactin level is dropping (as it does after birth: by 4-6 months BASAL
prolactin can be much the same as the bottle-feeding mother, and mother can
be fully breastfeeding), and thus goes to work to push back basal prolactin
to the parameters that work well for the production he/she wants...

Another post spoke of:
>The reason he gave is so that he will have
an accurate calorie count of the baby's intake and can evaluate to see if
there might be a metabolic problem.<
Well, whatever is needed for an evaluation of a metabolic problem, this
won't help much. How exactly does he plan to assess the caloric value of
breastmilk when this can vary enormously from one breast or one feed to the
next, within the feed, and so on? And does he plan to test the formula
independently as well? If there is a metabolic problem, such a mixed
feeding regime may turn out to be disastrous, I would have thought...Where
are our paediatricians?

Congratulations to Annelies Bon: fantastic work. If only all mothers could
access such help. MM

Maureen Minchin, IBCLC
5 St, George's Rd., Armadale Vic 3143 Australia
tel/fax after March 1: 61.3.95094929 or 95000648