I've been idly wondering...

[frisbyrat]

... during the many hours I've spent bf recently.

So who can tell me please:

1. Which countries only offer formula on prescription? (I think I read on here once that that was the case in some places)

2. What is the calorific and nutritional content of breastmilk at various ages of the baby?

3. Howlong after birth can a full-term baby go without milk/survive only on colostrum?

4. Do cows have four breasts - or one breast and four nipples? (blame my 3yo dd for that one - she's at the "Why, mummy?" stage!)

5. Is there believed to be an optimum age to bf to/at which human babies can be weaned like any other animal would its young?

6. Why do some male animals (cats, rats , my dh) have nipples, but others (horses, bulls) don't?

As you can see, I've devoted far too much brain space to this...

God, you lot are going to think I'm a complete weirdo now.

Excellent, motherhurdicure. Thanks! One down, five to go.

I know some answers:

4. Cows have four breasts - each teat is connected to a separate 'quarter'. Most will produce different amounts from each one, and get mastitis independantly

6)I haven't peered at the relevant part of a stallion too closely, but bulls def have nipples and can lactate. When my parents had goats, one of the males lactated enough to need regular milking.

I wonder this sort of thing too in idle moments.

Ooh, interesting cmotd. I stand corrected on the male nipple front.

5. is a really interesting question. I've been reading about it lately in this book (though it's actually biocultural, not bicultural). There's a summary of the relevant chapter here.

Basically she analysed weaning ages in other primate species and cross-referenced them against other life history variables (not sure if that's the technical term or not). Eg, how long did feeding from the mother occur as compared to gestation length, time until reaching adult weight, time to doubling/tripling/quadrupling of birth weight, etc, etc.

Haven't read the summary lately, but I seem to remember the chapter saying the most striking variable to correlate with weaning time was the eruption of the 1st permanent molar (iirc). Corresponds to an age of roughly 6 years for modern humans, though we can't be sure exactly when it would have happened for hominid ancestors.

Fascinating stuff.

I don't know of any countries that only offer formula on prescription - never heard of this actually happening.

Question 2 is impossible

This paper shows the huge variation produced by mothers of healthy, thriving babies. You can average it out, though, and there are plenty of studies that do so. There is a paper showing that overall, milk becomes more calorie dense for a toddler.

Question 3 is also impossible. When a baby starts to go into 'starvation mode' he may shut down and conserve energy/fluids. There are case studies showing this, eg when babies have been rescued from an earthquake alive and well, even though they have been unfed for a week or more. This is gonna be variable as well - there are certainly case reports of babies who have become quite ill on day 4-5 when it's suddenly discovered they only appear to be feeding, and no milk is actuially going from A to B.

Papua New Guinea has had a law requiring a doctor's prescription to buy baby bottles since the '70s. I think it's the bottles rather than the milk but I'm not sure.

www.popline.org/docs/141536

Thank you for all the knowledgeable answers, everyone - and for the relevant cites. You are a rigorous lot!