I agree with Linda Draper's observation that older moms who have had
infertility have problems with supply, and often have a longer duration
before milk comes in.  This seems to be more significant in those who have
had pitocin augmentation/induction of labor, and those with toxemia, both
of which are more common in older moms.   For those moms whose infertility
was luteal phase dysfunction, disordered progesterone metabolism may have
contributed to the infertility, and of course would then cause trouble
later.  I would like to see a study - is anyone out there able to look
retrospectively at these moms?  what about using Kaiser patients?
Researchers?

also - I very much appreciate Dany Gautier's post on herbs.  I've been
trying not to panic when various herbs are recommended on Lactnet.  We
discuss mediations at length and seem to want lots of information, but
remember Dany's point that the effect of herbs depends on the plant and the
duration and method of extraction (infusion, powder,etc).  I'd like to
think that nature provides us all the remedies we need in plants, but I do
believe that we can improve on nature by purifying and providing fixed
doses.  Look at digitalis (the beautiful foxglove - mine don't grow too
well in the Texas heat) - it helped dropsy (congestive heart failure) for
many people, but some overdosed and some underdosed.  Now we can give
digoxin in a fixed dose, and it is still difficult to regulate (need serum
levels, watch serum potassium level, etc) - imagine how variable serum
levels were when patients could only get digitalis in tea!
So - please be more careful when recommending herbs.  Let's look for
studies - I'm ready to see a controlled clinical trial comparing echinaceae
to benadry and placebo in allergic rhinitis, and a trial of placebo versus
reglan versus fenugreek/fennel/etc for milk supply.
so much for research ideas - now if I only had funding and some subjects....
oh - my home page is up - I put in some links on breastfeeding (so many
wonderful links identified by this great group on Lactnet) - there's other
health stuff and some Texas politics as well.

Julie Graves Moy, M.D., M.P.H.
[log in to unmask]   http://www.bga.com/~jgmoy
P.O. Box 4768
Austin, Texas  78765
512-440-0480
512-441-1666 fax