Association between caloric density of human milk and anthropometric parameters of mothers and their children

Background: Breastfeeding is essential for the proper development of the infant, and it changes depending on factors such as the nutritional status of the mother. Aim: To determine the association between caloric density of human milk and anthropometric measurements of the mother and infant. Method: A cross-analytical study; involving mothers and infants 1-6 months of age in the Maternity Hospital "El Carmen"-Huancayo, Peru. Participating mother's milk was extracted according to international standards. Anthropometric measurements of mothers and their infants were obtained. The caloric intake of milk was measured with the Lucas technique. We use analytical and descriptive statistics, confidence intervals at 95[%] and p<0.05 as statistically significant value. Results: Of the 51 respondents, the average heat content was 64.5 kcal/100ml. In multivariate analysis, adjusted for infant age, caloric content was higher in children of normal weight compared malnourished (weight/age: +9.9, p <0.001; size/age: +8.5, p=0.018 and weight/size: +7.1, p=0.006). Also in the weight/age caloric content of breast milk of obese children it was lower than that of malnourished (-14.3, p<0.001). Conclusion: Variations of the caloric content of milk differed among the three parameters of eutrophic children.