Abstract: Objective:To investigate the diet of lactating mothers,breast milk components and the growth of infants in Changchun City, Jilin Province and explore the relationships between the nutritional status of breast milk and the growth of infants, and to provide the theoretical basis for the development of the infant health. Methods:A total of 138 healthy nursing mothers were selected. Within 40-45 d after the delivery, face-to-face investigations were conducted to obtain the basic information of the subjects and the growth and development information of the infants. The 24-hour dietary review method was adopted to investigate the dietary status of the lactating mothers, the standard food pictures were provided to estimate the dietary variety and the quantities of the subjects. Golden key maternal nutrition expert system software was applied to analyze the energy and nutrients of dietary intake, and they were compared with Dietary Guidelines of Pregnant, Lactating Women and 0-6 Years Old Children in China (2007) and Chinese Dietary Reference Intake of Nutrients (2013);the diet intake level of the lactating mothers was evaluated. The breast milk was collected and the infant growth and development indicators were measured. The compositions of breast milk were analyzed by milk composition analyzer. The relationships between the lactating mother's diet, the breast milk composition and the infant growth and development were analyzed. Results:The average energy intake of the lactating mothers was (1 698.7±406.23) kcal·d^-1, and the energy proportions of proteins, lipids, and carbohydrates were 14.06%, 33.83%, and 52.09%, respectively. The average energy content of breast milk was (61.18±13.04) kcal·100g^-1, the average protein content was (0.94±0.19) g·100g^-1, the average lipid content was (3.55±1.27) g·100g^-1, and the average lactose content was (6.38±0.82) g·100g^-1. The dietary protein intake was associated with the protein content of breast milk (r=0.203,P=0.017).When the influence of feeding patterns, energy of breast milk, infant gender, and age were controlled, the partial correlation analysis result showed that the breast milk composition had no correlations with the increases in body lengths and weights of the infants (P>0.05). Conclusion:There are insufficience and imbalance in the general dietary intakes in the lactating mothers. The dietary protein intake of lactating mothers may influence the protein content of breast milk. The lipid and carbohydrate contents in milk have no significant correlations with the dietary nutrients of the lactating mothers. The breast milk compositions of lactating mothers have no effects on the growth and development of infants.

Key words: lactating mothers, breast milk, diet, nutrients, infant, growth