The Correlation between Birth Weight and the Essential Fatty Acid Levels in the Milk of Breastfeeding Infants Aged 1 to 4 Months in Makassar Siradjuddin Nur Nikmah1,*, Hadju Veni1, Maria Ida Leida1 1Faculty of Public Health, Hasanuddin University, Jl. Perintis Kemerdekaan Km. 10, Tamalanrea Indah, Tamalanrea, Kota, Makassar, Sulawesi Selatan, 90245, Indonesia *Corresponding author: Nur Nikmah Siradjuddin, E-mail: nikmah.siradjuddin@gmail.com
Online published on 30 April, 2019. Abstract This research aimed to examine the correlation between the birth weight and the higher level of essential fatty acids (AA and DHA) in the milk of the mother who breastfeed the 1 to 4 month infants in Makassar City. The research was conducted in the health Centers of Tamaumaung, Layang and Tamangapa. The research type was analytical observational using the cross sectional design. The 30 samples were chosen using the purposive sampling technique. The samples were divided into two groups: the first group constituted of 15 mothers who breastfeed the infants with the normal birth weights and the second group con essential fatty acid (AA and DHA) were examined using the High Performance Liquid Chromotography (HPLC) method. SPSS was utilized to analyze the data based on independent t-test in order to see the correlation between the birth weight of the infants and the levels of the essential fatty acid in the mother's milk of the two groups. The research results indicated that the mean level of the AA milk in the infants with the normal birth weight was lower compared to that in the LBW infants (0.098 ± 0.006 mg/ml against 0.085 ± 0.024 mg/ml); the mean level of milk DHA in the infants with the normal birth weight was also lower compared to that in LBW infants (0.076 ± 0.005 mg/ml compared to 0.072 ± 0.007 mg/ml), but their correlation was not significant (p>0.05). Top Keywords Breastfeeding mothers, Breast milk, Essential fatty acid, LBW. Top |