This old advice to discard the first 5ml of breastmilk before expressing probably comes from efforts in the 1970s and 1980s to reduce bacterial contamination in expressed breastmilk for preterm infants. Numerous protocols were in vogue back then to decrease pathological bacteria numbers. Some of the newest research shows that human milk contains over 700 species of bacteria and other old research long ago demonstrated that discarding the first few drops of breastmilk does not decrease contamination. Sounds like someone has not kept up with current research and should not be giving advice that is outdated. Marsha Walker, RN, IBCLC Weston, MA *********************************************** Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html To reach list owners: [log in to unmask] Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask] COMMANDS: 1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: set lactnet nomail 2. To start it again: set lactnet mail 3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet 4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome