Does a change in the composition of human milk affect sucking patterns and milk intake?
1980
Woolridge, M.W. | Baum, J.D. | Drewett, R.F.
Human breast milk of high and low fat content was fed from bottles to 24 infants, aged 4-9 days. Eight newborns were fed low-fat followed by high-fat milk; 8 were fed low-fat followed by low-fat milk; and 8 were fed high-fat followed by low-fat milk. Changes in milk composition normally occur when a baby is nursed at the breast--the fat content increases and the flow rate decreases. It has been proposed that these changes in milk composition toward the end of a feed, cue the baby to stop feeding. However, switching the baby from the low-fat to high-fat breast milk (a change parallel to that occurring during the course of a normal nursing) in these bottle studies caused no change in milk intake rate or sucking pattern. Therefore, babies are more likely responding to changes in milk flow, rather than fat content, when they quit one breast only to suckle at the other.
Show more [+] Less [-]AGROVOC Keywords
Bibliographic information
This bibliographic record has been provided by National Agricultural Library
