Human Milk as the First Source of Nutrients

The nutrient requirements of young infants are higher per unit body weight than at any other time of life. Those who are exclusively breastfed consume on average about 750 mL/day between 1 and 6 months. In general, the amount of nutrients in the milk of a well-nourished woman is sufficient to support optimal growth and development of her infant. However, some nutrients may not be sufficient especially towards the end of the first six months.

Lindsay Allen explores on her presentation the nutrition adequacy of human milk, highlighting the difficult to make conclusions on this topic due to many factors, such as the few normative data on the nutritional status of infants during the first year of life and very limited amount of information on the concentrations of nutrients.