CHENNAI: World Breastfeeding Week is celebrated every year from August 1 to 7 to encourage breastfeeding and improve the health of babies around the world. Breast milk contains all the nutrients that an infant needs in the first six months of life, including fat, carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins, minerals and water. It is easily digested and efficiently used. Breast milk also contains bioactive factors that augment the infant’s immature immune system, providing protection against infection, and other factors that help digestion and absorption of nutrients.
Breastfeeding is one of the most effective ways to ensure a child’s health and survival. Breast milk is the ideal food for infants. It is safe, clean and contains antibodies which help protect against many common childhood illnesses. Breastfed children perform better on intelligence tests, are less likely to be overweight or obese and less prone to diabetes later in life. Women who breastfeed also have a reduced risk of breast and ovarian cancers.
Maternal factors such as stress, anxiety, and smoking can decrease milk production, but the quantitative and caloric value of breast milk does not change with dieting and exercise. Moreover, a woman’s weight, BMI, body fat percentage, and weight gain during pregnancy do not influence milk production.
Nutrition and lactation
Breastfeeding and breast milk are the global standards for infant feeding. Women who breastfeed require approximately 500 additional kcal/day beyond what is recommended for non-pregnant women. Lactation is considered successful when the breastfed infant is gaining an appropriate amount of weight. The recommended daily allowance for protein during lactation is an additional 25 g/day.
The nutrition requirements for breastfeeding are similar to those for pregnancy, and women are recommended to continue eating similarly, to how they were eating during their pregnancy. However, a breastfeeding woman needs 200 more calories per day than she did during pregnancy, and it is important that the calories come from nutritious foods.
Important nutrients
Vitamin C: Nursing mothers need slightly more vitamin C than they did during pregnancy. During lactation 20 mg/day vitamin C is secreted in milk. For an assumed absorption efficiency of 85%, the mother will need an extra 25 mg.
Calcium: Calcium is a significant component of breast milk. As in pregnancy, calcium absorption is enhanced during lactation and urinary loss is decreased. In addition, some calcium appears to come from demineralisation of the mother’s bones and increased dietary calcium does not prevent this. The suggested daily intake of calcium for breastfeeding mothers is 1,300 milligrams per day.
Iron: Iron is also important for breastfeeding mothers. Iron is needed for psychomotor development, maintenance of physical activity and resistance to infection. Its deficiency develops when the intake of bioavailable iron does not meet requirements or when excessive physiological or pathological losses of iron occur. The prevalence of iron deficiency varies greatly according to age, gender and physiological, pathological and socio-economic conditions. Zinc, vitamin A, iodine and choline are also other important nutrients required during breastfeeding.
Foods to consume during lactation
Avocado: Avocados contain higher amounts of several non-essential compounds, such as fibre, monounsaturated fats, and lipid-soluble antioxidants, which have all been linked to improvements in maternal health, birth outcomes and/or breast milk quality.
Fenugreek: A galactagogue, fenugreek is useful for promoting and increasing breast milk production and also helps in the increase in the frequency of urination and weight gain of infants during the first week of life.
Moringa leaves: The nursing baby requires calcium for optimal growth and development. Moringa helps in meeting the calcium requirements of nursing mothers and in improving the quality and volume of breast milk.
Fennel: It increases the production of milk.
Garlic: Garlic can stimulate breast milk production and increase the supply of breast milk.