Standard Breastmilk? "Ain't" No Such Thing!

I follow Dr. Jack Newman on Facebook.  He is a physician in Canada who is an expert in human lactation.  Some new technology allows good analysis of the fat content of human milk.  Here is Dr. Newman's commentary.

Dr.Jack Newman

Here is something many of you will find interesting. A friend of mine, a physician, had her milk tested at her hospital, as they were testing a new machine. (She is breastfeeding an older child). The results? 6.8 g/100ml fat (so about double the concentration of full cream cow's milk and about 70% more than that of formula), 83 calories/100ml (or 24% more than in formula), and 2.4 g/100 ml of sugar (or about 1/3 that in formula).

They analyzed 8 samples altogether (7 from mothers of premature babies on the ward) and they got very different results from each sample. One of her colleagues asked her at the end: "So which milk is good?"

Which only proves that too many physicians don't understand that there is no such thing as standard breastmilk. Every mother produces milk which varies from feeding to feeding, from day to day, from morning to evening, from week to week. And the milk is tailored to the needs of her baby as the baby's needs change. And if there is no such thing as standard breastmilk, then a formula can never duplicate breastmilk.

This does not mean that milk donated from a mother breastfeeding an 11 month old is not good for the baby who is 2 weeks old. The milk of a mother breastfeeding an 11 month old is still closer to what a baby of 2 weeks would get from the breast than formula.