The nipple-shield sampling system: a device for measuring the dietary intake of breast-fed infants.

We have devised a method for the determination of the composition of the milk infants obtain from the breast during suckling itself, suckled breast milk (SBM). The method involves the use of a nipple-shield sampling system, together with data on the pattern of milk flow from mother to infant derived from a cross-sectional analysis of test weighings during feeding. In this study, marked changes were demonstrated in milk fat the sixth day postpartum. From this information the total intake of fat and energy during the feed was calculated. These preliminary findings suggest that published information on the dietary intake of breast-fed infants may need some revision.