Pattern of milk flow in breast-fed infants.
122 six-day-old infants were test-weighed during breast feeding. Cross-sectional data collection avoided repeated interruptions of individual feeds. Milk flow conformed to a definite pattern: a mean of 50% of the feed from each breast was taken in the first two minutes of sucking and a mean of 80-90% was taken by four minutes. The second half of a ten-minute feed from either breast was almost non-nutritive. Preliminary studies suggest that the pattern is the same after one month of lactation.
D001942:Breast Feeding; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007774:Lactation; D008895:Milk, Human / Q000502:physiology*; D009751:Nutritional Requirements; D009753:Nutritive Value; D011247:Pregnancy; D013391:Sucking Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D013997:Time Factors