Abstract 1689 Poster Session III, Monday, 5/3 (poster 75)

Previous studies have established the CRCT as an accurate estimate of total lipid concentration in OMM samples from mothers of healthy term infants. The purpose of this research was to determine whether the CRCT is sufficiently accurate to guide the modification of lipid in OMM feedings in the NICU. Eighteen mothers whose mean age was 28 yrs (18-40), and whose infants' mean birthweight and gestational age were 1076g (620-2608) and 27.8 wks (24-38), respectively, provided 32 OMM samples. All mothers used a hospital grade electric breast pump to express foremilk (FM; pre-milk ejection low-lipid OMM; n=7); hindmild (HM; post-milk ejection high-lipid OMM; n=12); and/or composite mild (CM; HM + FM; n=13) For each OMM specimen, a 10-ml sample was aliquoted within 30 minutes of expression. Duplicate CRCTs were performed immediately on the fresh OMM sample by the same investigator, and the remainder of the sample was stored at -70°C until analyzed by gravimetric methods. The results revealed that total lipid concentration (g%) varied from 2.88 to 8.65, and CRCTs (%) varied from 5.0 to 17.5, with a strong linear correlation (r=.94; p<.0001) between these measures. These findings suggest that the CRCT provides a simple, inexpensive estimate of the lipid content in OMM, and can be used facilitate clinical decisions about CM and HM feedings in the NICU. (Figure)

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