The status, policies and programs of nutrition among in nursing mothers: A review article

Pregnant or lactating women and children are the two population group most vulnerable to nutritional deficiencies. The aim of this study was to review the nutritional status of lactating women، as one of the main loops of the chain of effective factors on health of the generation and society، assessing the supportive nutrition programs in Iran and to provide solutions in this regard. This review was conducted in April 2014. All related articles on the databases of IranMedex، SID (Scientific Information database) and PubMed were investigated with no time limit. After reviewing the abstracts، 15 Persian articles and 13 English articles were fully reviewed. The results of the few available studies on the nutritional status of lactating women indicate deficiencies or inappropriate nutritional patterns among lactating women. Although in formulation of nutritional strategies، pregnant or lactating women and children often receive equal attention، women are practically the target of nutrition and health programs to improve the growth of the fetus and little attention have been paid to their health and nutritional needs. Nutrition of lactating women have been forgotten and solely focus on prenatal nutrition of women means ignoring the more fundamental nutritional problem in women throughout their lives. Implementing a holistic approach to health and nutrition of women instead of the traditional approach، which focuses solely on a particular period of life، leads to health promotion and ensuring the health of women and the next generation.