Vitamin A supplementation in postpartum women

Maternal dietary intake is an important determinant of maternal vitamin A status and vitamin A concentrations in breast milk.

A variety of programmes have been used for improving women's vitamin A status and to increase the vitamin A content of breast milk to indirectly provide more vitamin A to breastfed infants, who usually are born with low vitamin A. In infants, vitamin A is essential to support rapid growth and to help combat infections.

Informed by the available evidence, WHO does not recommend vitamin A supplementation for postpartum women as a public health intervention for the prevention of maternal and infant morbidity and mortality.