BREAST MILK

Breast milk is the perfect food for babies, and can be used alone up to three months of age. It is cheap, easily
digested,  results  in  minimal  faeces  production,  protects  against  numerous  infections  (eg.  gastroenteritis,
bronchiolitis) and is conveniently packaged for immediate use without any messy preparation.

Colostrum is the type of milk produced from one to five days after the birth of a baby, transition milk from five to
ten days after birth and mature milk after that.
Breast milk can be scientifically analysed to detect the reason for infant feeding problems, a failure of the infant
to thrive and inadequate or inappropriate milk production. The normal results are summarised below:-
  UNIT  COLOSTRUM  TRANSITION MILK  MATURE MILK
Energy    kJ/100 mL  239    264  272
  calories/100 mLs  57  63  65
Total protein   mg/100 mL  1460 to 6800.  1270 to 1890  730 to 2000
Lactose (milk sugar)   mg/100 mL.  1100 to 7900  6100 to 6700  4900 to 9500
Amino acids   mg/100 mL.  700 to 4000  600 to 1000  900 to 1600
Total fats   mg/100 mL  2740 to 3180.  2730 to 5180  1340 to 8290
Specific gravity  SG    1.034 to 1.036  1.026 to 1.037
Total solids   g/100 mL.  10 to 16  10.5 to 15.5   10.3 to 17.5
Sodium   mEq/L.  26 to 135  19 to 53  6 to 43
Iron   mg/100 mL.  0.02 to 0.05  0.04 to 0.07  0.02 to 0.09