Unilateral breast dysfunction in lactating Gambian women.

Approximately 3% of lactating women in a rural Gambian village displayed long-term unilateral breast dysfunction as evidenced by abnormal milk composition and virtual cessation of suckling by the infant. This paper presents case histories of four such women studied over two successive lactations. The average breast-milk output of these women did not differ significantly from the mean value for the remainder of the community, indicating that the non-affected breast was usually able to compensate for the dysfunction. This was confirmed by the fact that the child-rearing record of three of the four women was better than the community average. In two of the women the breast which was dysfunctioning in one lactation reverted completely to normal for the next lactation. It is suggested that in such cases the dysfunction is self-perpetuating and may be alleviated by counselling mothers to persevere with feeding from the affected breast.