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Human milk and the premature infant

Journal of Perinatology volume 27, pages S71–S74 (2007)Cite this article

Human milk from the preterm's own mother is the enteral feeding of choice.1 Human milk is species specific and has adapted throughout evolution to meet the nutritional needs of the human infant. The beneficial effects are generally thought to relate to improvement in host defense, digestion and absorption of nutrients, gastrointestinal function, neurodevelopmental outcome as well as maternal-infant bonding. However, the special needs of the premature infant cannot always be met by human milk to satisfy the current recommendations. Once growth is established, the nutritional needs of the preterm infant exceed the content of human milk for protein, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, sodium, copper, zinc and vitamins B12, B6, C, D, E and K and folic acid.2, 3 With the increase in preterm birthrate as well as low birth weight rate,4 the increasing survival of these preterm infants and discharges at earlier body weights make nutritional considerations of paramount importance.

The physiologic basis for differences in compositional differences between term and preterm human milk vary and include early interruption of pregnancy, variable hormonal profile,5 delay in initiation of pumping, maternal anxiety and decreased milk flow, to name a few. Nonetheless, the benefits of providing human milk for premature infants are numerous and listed in Table 1.

Table 1 Benefits of providing human milk for premature infants
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  1. Department of Pediatrics, Section of Neonatology, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, GA, USA

    J Bhatia

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Bhatia, J. Human milk and the premature infant. J Perinatol 27 (Suppl 1), S71–S74 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.jp.7211713

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