Iron and zinc in breastmilk

[Rosie]

Hello,

My dietician has advised me that DD is likely to be lacking in iron and
zinc - she has done a detailed investigation into her diet. (They don't do
blood tests for these things in my practice - do they do them at all in the
UK?)

My question is -

How much as a %age of DD's requirements for iron and zinc does breastmilk
alone meet?

She is 14 months but any statistics would be welcome.

Cheers!
ROSIE

[Naomi Pardue]

>How much as a %age of DD's requirements for iron and zinc does breastmilk
>alone meet?
>
>She is 14 months but any statistics would be welcome.

Let's see.... according to the table in "Breastfeeding, a Guide for the Medical
Profession", 100 ml. of mature milk contains about 120 ug of zinc and 40 ug of
iron. The book does say (or at least I can't find) the approximate RDA of these
minerals for a year old toddler.
The book also notes that the concentration of zinc in the milk declines as
lactation progresses, so their may be less of it in the milk now; and that
maternal supplementation doesn't increase milk levels. (Iron levels, however,
are unchanged throughout lactation.)

I know this isn't exactly what you were looking for, but I hope it's of some
help.


Naomi
CAPPA Certified Lactation Educator

(either remove spamblock or change address to to e-mail
reply.)

[Elaine]

In article >, Naomi Pardue wrote:
>>How much as a %age of DD's requirements for iron and zinc does breastmilk
>>alone meet?
>>
>>She is 14 months but any statistics would be welcome.
>
> Let's see.... according to the table in "Breastfeeding, a Guide for the Medical
> Profession", 100 ml. of mature milk contains about 120 ug of zinc and 40 ug of
> iron. The book does say (or at least I can't find) the approximate RDA of these
> minerals for a year old toddler.
> The book also notes that the concentration of zinc in the milk declines as
> lactation progresses, so their may be less of it in the milk now; and that
> maternal supplementation doesn't increase milk levels. (Iron levels, however,
> are unchanged throughout lactation.)

From lpi.oregonstate.edu, infants and children from 7months - 3 years
require 3mg/day of zinc. From the same source, children from 1-3 years
require 7mg/day of iron. However, until 12 months, 11mg/day is recommended.

Now we just have to figure out how much breastmilk gets consumed. Has the OP
been fitted for those transparent breasts yet? ;)

Elaine

[Phoebe & Allyson]

Elaine wrote:

> Naomi Pardue wrote:
>
> 100 ml. of mature milk contains about 120 ug of zinc and 40 ug of
>>iron.
>
> From lpi.oregonstate.edu, infants and children from 7months - 3 years
> require 3mg/day of zinc. From the same source, children from 1-3 years
> require 7mg/day of iron. However, until 12 months, 11mg/day is recommended.

So a 14 month old should get about 7mg (7000ug) a day,
divided by 120ug = 7000/120 = 58*100ml = 5.8 liters of
breastmilk to hit the RDA. That's a heck of a lot of milk.
A quick google shows that the zinc in breastmilk is more
bioavailable than zinc from other sources, so that may be
overkill.

Phoebe :)
--
yahoo address is unread - substitute mailbolt

[Elaine]

In article >, Phoebe & Allyson wrote:
> Elaine wrote:
>
>> Naomi Pardue wrote:
>>
>> 100 ml. of mature milk contains about 120 ug of zinc and 40 ug of
>>>iron.
>>
>> From lpi.oregonstate.edu, infants and children from 7months - 3 years
>> require 3mg/day of zinc. From the same source, children from 1-3 years
>> require 7mg/day of iron. However, until 12 months, 11mg/day is recommended.
>
> So a 14 month old should get about 7mg (7000ug) a day,
> divided by 120ug = 7000/120 = 58*100ml = 5.8 liters of
> breastmilk to hit the RDA. That's a heck of a lot of milk.
> A quick google shows that the zinc in breastmilk is more
> bioavailable than zinc from other sources, so that may be
> overkill.

I think the turkey has gone to your head. ;)
A 14 month old should get 3mg (3000ug) a day of zinc.
That's 3000/120 =25*100ml= 2.5 liters of breastmilk
a day.

For iron, on the other hand - you need 7000/40 =175*100ml
or 17.5L of breastmilk. =) Wouldn't you like to be
exclusively pumping.

However, both the iron and zinc RDA is based on formula,
not breastmilk, and I think that they are both more bioavailable
in breastmilk. Linus Pauling Institute is very useful for info
on adults, and less so for little ones.

There's also no good test for low zinc. I think I would
err on the side of increasing foods high in zinc like
meat (dark meat more than light meat) and yogurt.

Elaine

[Lara]

Elaine > wrote:

> For iron, on the other hand - you need 7000/40 =175*100ml
> or 17.5L of breastmilk. =) Wouldn't you like to be
> exclusively pumping.
>
> However, both the iron and zinc RDA is based on formula,
> not breastmilk, and I think that they are both more bioavailable
> in breastmilk.

By about an order of magnitude, it seems:

http://www.askdrsears.com/html/0/T000100.asp

Lara

[Rosie]

Lots of statistics!

> For iron, on the other hand - you need 7000/40 =175*100ml
> or 17.5L of breastmilk. =) Wouldn't you like to be
> exclusively pumping.

From Sears, iron in breastmilk is absorbed around 9 times that from formula
(and therefore I assume from other sources)... So perhaps around 2L of
breastmilk would be sufficient to meet baby's iron requirements? And I
think at 14 months it is assumed they are drinking around 1/2 litre a day
(which seems about right to me), so therefore breastfed 14 months olds are
only receiving 25% of their iron requirements from breastmilk?

Does that sound correct math-wise?

(How frustrating that these figures aren't readily available!)

ROSIE

[Phoebe & Allyson]

Elaine wrote:

> I think the turkey has gone to your head. ;)

Drat, I misread the initial cite (didn't notice it was for
both zinc and iron, and couldn't puzzle out why there were
two "right" numbers for each age group).

Phoebe :)

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