Breast milk fat percentage
- how much fat should be in breastmilk
- how much fat should be in my breast milk
- how much fat should a breastfeeding mom eat
- how much fat is in breastmilk
What does fatty breast milk look like!
What affects the amount of fat or calories in mom’s milk?
By Kelly Bonyata, IBCLC
Average calorie & fat content of human milk
The average calorie content of human milk is 22 kcal/oz.
Caloric content varies widely throughout each feeding and the day, however, due to changing fat content. The amount of fat in human milk changes dramatically during each feeding and throughout the day, since fat content depends on the degree of emptyness of the breast (empty breast = high fat, full breast = low fat).
The average fat content of human milk is 1.2 grams/oz.
| Calorie & Fat Content of Human Milk | ||
| Average | Range | |
| Energy | 22 kcal/oz | 13 – 35 kcal/oz |
| 75 kcal/100 mL | 45 – 119 kcal/100 mL | |
| Fat (total lipids) | 1.2 g/oz | 0.6 – 1.5 g/oz |
| 4.2 g/100 mL | 2 – 5 g/100 mL | |
| 3-5% | 1-10% | |
| References: Hamosh 1991, p. Breast milk fat separation118; Jelliffe & Jelliffe 1978; Lawrence 1999, p. 108, 305, 738. | ||
What affects the amount of fat and calories in a mother’s milk?
- Mom’s diet? The research tells us that mom’s diet doesnotaffect the average
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