The production and composition of milk from 10‐ 60 days of lactation in mothers who delivered prematurely in Western Australia

For preterm mothers, the period of secretory differentiation is shorter than that for term mothers because of early delivery This results in earlier initiation of secretory activation. This study determined the variation in the production and composition of milk from 20 mothers who delivered prematurely. Twenty four hour expression data and milk samples at each expression from each breast on days 10, 15–20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 postpartum were collected. Mean daily milk production was 635±372 and 644±229ml, on days 10 and 60 postpartum, respectively. Fifteen percent of mothers did not reach full milk production (<450ml). Expression regime with 6 to 8 expressions/day was related to higher milk production. Mean milk composition was 44.9±10.6 and 45.8±12.6g/l of fat; 21.2±5.86 and 12.1±3.79g/l of protein; 61.7±9.92 and 70.2±13.7g/l of lactose, on days 10 and 60 postpartum, respectively. We speculate that large variation in the production and composition of milk between mothers is related, in part, to the expression regimes of these mothers. Research Support : Medela AG, Switzerland