Breast-feeding: matching supply with demand in human lactation

Regulation of Mammary Development as It Relates to Changes in Milk Production Efficiency

“…Therefore, it is thought that FIL may be involved in autocrine regulation of milk secretion and the adjustment of milk production to meet (but not exceed) the nutritional demands of the offspring . Similar observations have been made in lactating women (Daly et al, 1993;Daly & Hartmann, 1995;Wilde et al, 1995). The mechanisms underlying this regulation are unclear; however, it has been suggested that FIL inhibits milk production by interfering with the casein secretory pathway (Rennison et al, 1993;Burgoyne & Wilde, 1994).…”

The evolutionary ecology of early weaning in Kilimanjaro, Tanzania

“…The substantial opportunity and energetic costs of breastfeeding provide strong incentive for mothers to allocate breastfeeding investment carefully. Deviations from what is 'best' for a child are often owing to constraints on mothers [3,13] or natural conflicts between mother and child [15,50], felt more strongly by mothers with relatively few resources [17]. Public health messaging encouraging prolonged breastfeeding may have little impact when it runs counter to adaptive allocations of PI [2].…”

Field and laboratory methods in human milk research

“…Because the amount of milk mothers are capable of producing may not accurately represent the amount of milk infants ingest, determining infant nutritional intake is more complicated than determining milk macronutrient concentrations (Butte et al, 1991;Daly et al, 1992;Hinde and Milligan, 2011;Wilde et al, 1995). In addition, because milk macronutrients vary throughout the day, especially fat, assumptions of energy transfer are difficult to determine.…”

“…Milk throughput is the result of behavioral negotiation between the mother and infant through nursing intensity, frequency, and duration. When the infant is permitted to nurse to satiety, maternal supply is primarily, but not totally, linked to infant appetite (Daly et al, 1992;Wilde et al, 1995). However, prior research has shown extensive variation in maternal behaviors that determine infant access to milk (Gray, 1995;Vitzthum, 1994).…”

“…Milk synthesis and composition is related both to the total volume of milk removed at a feeding (Prentice et al, 1981a) and the interval between feedings (Daly et al, 1993a;Jackson et al, 1988;Lai et al, 2010). Longer inter-nursing intervals are associated with higher milk fat in hindmilk, reflecting downregulation of lactose synthesis in relation to milk stasis in the mammary gland (Akers, 2002;Hinde et al, 2009;Wilde et al, 1995). Differences in time intervals between feedings can be problematic for crossstudy comparisons, especially those that rely on single samples.…”