American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol 50, 274-279, Copyright © 1989 by The American Society for Clinical Nutrition, Inc

ORIGINAL RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS

Energy supplementation in the last trimester of pregnancy in East Java, Indonesia: effect on breast-milk output

WM van Steenbergen, JA Kusin, S Kardjati and C de With
Department of Nutrition, Royal Tropical Institute, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Breast-milk output was measured in women who during the last trimester of pregnancy consumed a high- or low-energy supplement (53 and 55 women, respectively). Infant and mother pairs were enrolled at 2 or 6 wk postpartum. Test weighings were done four times at 8-wk intervals. Mean breast-milk output ranged from 682 to 744 g/d in the age period of 2 wk to 7 mo. There was no difference in milk output between the two experimental groups. In all cohorts, breast-feeding frequency influenced milk output positively. Only at age 18-22 wk did the mothers' prepregnancy or 4-wk postpartum body mass index play an additional role. The results confirm that breast-milk output of mildly undernourished women is comparable with that of well-nourished women. Short-term energy supplementation during pregnancy did not increase breast-milk output, probably because the sample studied was not at nutritional risk.

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