Impact of supplementary food on intake of breast milk in diarrhoea.

The intake of breast milk during acute and early convalescent stages of diarrhoea (over a 7-day period) and a fortnight after discharge from hospital (late convalescent stage) was monitored in 33 breastfed children aged 8-24 months. 16 were exclusively breastfed and 17 were partially weaned at the time of admission. On admission, weaning food was introduced to the exclusively breastfed children, whose intake of breast milk in the acute stage made up slightly more than half the total calorie intake of 70 +/- 4 kcal/kg/day. Their total calorie intake increased to 91 +/- 5 and 103 +/- 5 kcal/kg/day in the early and late convalescent stages, respectively, but the proportion made up by breast milk dropped to about a quarter. The breast milk intake of the partially weaned children made up nearly half their total calorie intake of 72 +/- 5 kcal/kg/day, and about a fifth of their total calorie intake of 94 +/- 5 kcal/kg/day and 104 +/- 5 kcal/kg/day, respectively, during the early and late convalescent stage, respectively.