
Special Dietary Needs of Nursing Teenage MomsBy Jill Lee March
23, 1998Nutrition research has helped pinpoint specific recommended dietary
allowances (RDA) for teenagers and for women who are nursing infants.
Preliminary research results suggest special guidelines for teenage mothers who
are nursing may be a good idea. At the Children's Nutrition Research
Center in Houston, a pediatrician compared breast-milk production of 22
mothers. The Houston center is a cooperative facility of the
Agricultural Research Service and
Baylor College of Medicine.
Half the women in the Houston study were adults; the other half were teens
with an average age of 16. All the mothers had similar milk nutrients, but the
teens produced 37 to 54 percent less milk than the adults. Over the long term,
that would shortchange the teens' infants on meeting their babies' nutritional
needs. The results were statistically significant even after adjusting for
differences in feeding time and nursing frequency.
The reason for the teenagers' lower milk production may be that they have
not yet completed their own growth. Since a teen mother has this additional
nutrient demand, her body may "choose" to favor her and reduce milk
production for her baby. To learn more, the research team measured body composition, diet and milk
production of 24 teenage mothers, half of whom breast-fed their babies. Eleven
other teens, who had not had children, were studied for comparison.
Preliminary findings suggest nursing teens continue to add muscle mass to
their bodies, indicating continuing growth. Teens who breast-fed appeared to
consume 23 percent more calories and vitamin B6 and 40 percent more protein.
Their dietary needs returned to regular levels after they stopped breast-
feeding. The March issue of Agricultural Research, ARS' monthly magazine, has
an article about the research. The article is also on the World Wide Web at: http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/mar98/diet0398.htm
Scientific contact: Kathleen Motil USDA/ARS
Children's Nutrition Research Center,
Houston Texas. Phone (713) 798-7180, fax (713) 798-7187,
[email protected]. U.S. Department of Agriculture | |