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L Smart

Publications and source records attributed to L Smart.

22 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1981

How long should a breast feed last?

Patterns of milk flow were studied in 50 mothers who were breast-feeding normal birth-weight babies on days 5-7 of the puerperium by progressive test weighing at 5-min intervals during two consecutive feeds. Compared with a regime in which mothers attempted to feed for 10 X 10 min on alternate breasts, a regime of 5 X 5 X 5 X 5 min increased the amount of milk taken in the first 10 min did not influence the final milk intake of the suckling-induced prolactin release. The wide variation of breast-feeding patterns between mothers was demonstrated in respect of the duration of the feed (mean 17.3 min; S.D. +/- 3.1; range 7-30 min), the initial rate of milk flow (mean 6 g/min; S.D. +/- 4.2, range 1-14 g/min) and the final milk intake (mean 70.9 g; S.D. +/- 20.5, range 42-125 g). The advice to breast-feed for 20 min was in appropriate for the majority of mothers because the nutritive feeding time was 15 min or less in 75% of the feeding episodes. The milk intake correlated with the initial rate of milk flow but not with the duration of the feed, the infant's birth weight, or the time since the last feed. It is suggested that the duration of a breast feed should be determined by the infant's response and not by an arbitrary time schedule.

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PubMed1980

The relationship between suckling-induced prolactin response and lactogenesis.

The PRL response to suckling was studied during the first week of the puerperium. Mean basal levels of PRL showed no significant changing during the first week of the puerperium, but there were progressive rises in both the maximum suckling-induced response and the total area under the response curve, which reached peak values on the fourth day after delivery. Despite large variations between individuals in basal PRL levels (range, 0.3-7.0 U/liter), peak suckling-induced response (range, 0.1-9.9 U/liter), and total response (range, 0.6-63.0 arbitrary units), there was much less variability within individuals between consecutive feeds. Using an electronic balance, 20 patients on days 5 and 6 were classified either as good feeders (greater than 60 g milk/feed) or poor feeders (less than or equal to 60 g milk/feed) on the basis of 2 consecutive test weights. The mean PRL response to suckling in 11 good feeders was no different from that in 9 poor feeders, and there was no significant correlation between milk yield and PRL response. Six patients whose infants were in the special care nursery had lactation initiated and maintained by breast pump for an average of 5.6 days. Although the PRL response to the breast pump was very small, these patients also had satisfactory milk yields (mean, 86 g). Although the presence of PRL is essential for lactation, the data in this paper suggest that there is no close temporal correlation between PRL concentrations and milk yield.

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