OBJECTIVE Women at risk for delayed onset of lactation are often advised to pump their breasts before lactogenesis stage II to hasten the timing of this process. The effectiveness of this clinical practice has not been previously evaluated. This study investigates the effects of breast pumping before the onset of lactation on early milk transfer and subsequent breastfeeding duration among women...

AIM Lipids are the main source of calories and considered very important in infant growth. We aimed to compare fatty acid composition of term and preterm breast milk. This is the first study that compares the fatty acid levels of preterm and term breast milk in Turkish women. MATERIALS AND METHODS Breast milk samples were obtained from mothers of term (n = 15) and preterm (n = 15) infants on ...

BACKGROUND The presence of the adipokines adiponectin and leptin in cord blood and placental and fetal tissues suggests a possible role in fetal development. METHODS We measured concentrations of adiponectin and leptin in maternal serum, cord blood, and breast milk and examined their correlations within a large, population-based study. Between November 2000 and November 2001, we recruited all...

Mothers of multiples who choose to feed their infants breast milk are faced with a seemingly overwhelming set of circumstances. Since mothers of multiples could potentially feed their infants differing proportions of breast milk, current methods of obtaining breastfeeding data for mothers of singletons may not adequately describe the breastfeeding behaviors of mothers of twins and triplets. The...

Breast milk is considered to be the best nutrient source for infants. However, nutritional compositions of breast milk in developing countries, especially among malnourished women, have not been fully investigated. This study aimed to assess nutritional status and nutrient composition of breast milk in lactating mothers in rural Vietnam. Sixty breastfeeding mothers at 6 to 12 mo postpartum, fre...

BACKGROUND We previously reported beneficial effects of breast milk ingestion by infants with extremely low birth weight in the NICU on developmental outcomes at 18 months' corrected age. The objective of this study was to determine whether these effects of breast milk in infants with extremely low birth weight persisted at 30 months' corrected age. METHODS Nutrition data, including enteral a...

Exosomes are biomolecular nanostructures released from cells. They carry specific biomolecular information and are mainly researched for their exquisite properties as a biomarker source and delivery system. We introduce exosomes in the context of other extracellular vesicles, describe their biophysical isolation and characterisation and discuss their biochemical profiling. Motivated by our inte...

The authors studied 367 women who were breastfeeding their infants in Mexico City, Mexico, between 1994 and 1995 to evaluate the effect of cumulative lead exposure, breastfeeding practices, and calcium intake on breast milk lead levels over the course of lactation. Maternal blood and breast milk lead levels were measured at 1, 4, and 7 months postpartum. Bone lead measurements were obtained at ...

BACKGROUND Lipid-based ready-to-use foods are currently used for infant feeding, but their potential effect on breast-milk intake is not well documented. OBJECTIVE The objective was to assess the breast-milk intake of 9-10-mo-old infants given either a ready-to-use complementary food (RUCF) paste or a standard corn-soy blend (UNIMIX) porridge in South Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo. DES...

BACKGROUND Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), an omega-3 fatty acid found in breast milk, has many health benefits for both mother and baby. A 2007 meta-analysis found U.S. women had breast milk DHA levels (0.20% of total fatty acids) below the worldwide mean (0.32%). In 2008, international dietary recommendations were made for pregnant and lactating women to consume 200 mg of DHA per day. This commun...