Breast feeding ability of undernourished mothers and physical development of their infants during 0-1 year.

In two different slum areas in Mysore city,
where the caloric intake of women was {OW (daily
mean of 1541 and l109 Kcal, respectively), breastfeeding
capacity was investigated. Approaches to
demonstrale the efficiency of milk production are
described and discussed. A longitudinal study of34
mother-infant pairs was done, with follow up of the
infants' anthropometric measurements for 1 year. It
was shown that breast-milk ofthe majority ofwomen
(27) became insufficient during the first 4 months
of lactation. Specifically mothers wilh low birth
weight infants had a poor breast-feeding performance.
The infants weight, average and individual
curves, and subcapsular skin/old indicate an
even earlier insufficiency. Supplementation of
breast·milk was either insufficient from the beginning
or became so, with the majority of infants,
after 2 months. Infections were recorded, but
could not be correlated wilh the slow weight increase
during the early breast-feeding phase. They
increased after supplementation, with a rising
incidence of gastro-intestinal infection. Possible
factors leading to insufficient breast-milk production
are discussed.