Breast Milk Composition and Infant Growth of Exclusively Breast Fed Infants (original) (raw)

Human milk is considered to be the optimal source of nutrition for the infants .It's adequacy can be arrived at by its quantity , quality and growth of the recipient infant. The decline in breast feeding was initially a trend of the developed countries but unfortunately this trend is now followed by developing countries also especially among those who are urbanized or more educated. The present longitudinal investigation was carried out to assess breast milk composition and infant growth of exclusively breast fed infants .Thirty urban lactating women 20 to 25 years of age delivered normal full term baby, parity 1-3 consuming traditional supplementary foods and exclusively breast feeding their infants were studied at 10-20(Stage-I), 75-85 (II),135-145(III) and 195-205 (IV) days of postpartum. Analysis of breast milk samples revealed that energy protein and fat concentration decreased (P<0.001) while that of lactose increased (P<0.05) with infant age. Concentration of macro and micro minerals was highest at stage I and decreased with infant age (P<0.05). Weight, length and circumferences at head, chest and mid upper arm increased significantly with infant age (P<0.01) and was at par with the standards. Correlation coefficient and regression analysis showed a positive association of breast milk composition with infant growth. Results emphasize the significance of exclusive breastfeeding for infants up to 6 and half months for their optimum growth.