| dc.description.abstract | Human milk is considered to be the optimal source of nutrition during the first six months of a child’s
life. Since the milk is the only source of nutrition for the first six months of an infant’s life, understanding its
composition remains a matter of public health concern. Further, few studies have determined the breast milk
composition of lactating mothers in African countries. The aim of this research was to assess longitudinal changes of
human milk nutrient content in the first 6 months of lactation. A longitudinal descriptive study with repeated
measures was adopted by the study. Breast milk nutrient composition was assessed among lactating mothers at the
1st and the 5th month of lactation. The milk energy, lactose, protein, lipids, vitamin A, calcium, magnesium, zinc and
iron was assessed at the two time points of lactation (first and fifth month). A total of 104 mature breast human milk
samples were collected and analysed for energy and the selected nutrients at the two stages of lactation.
Significant differences in the mean nutrient content of proteins (p value = 0.029), vitamin A (p value = 0.004) and
iron (p value = 0.015) was observed between the first and the fifth month of lactation. A downward trend in the
mean nutrient content for protein was observed while an upward trend was observed for both vitamin A (retinol) and
iron between the 1st and 5th month of lactation. Human milk nutrient content varies longitudinally in the first six
months of lactation. Studies investigating the causes of the variations are critical in improving the quality of human
breast milk and ultimately the growth and development of a child. | en_US |
