Use of human milk and fortification in the neonatal intensive care unit

Abstract

Human milk is the gold standard for the nutrition of very-low-birthweight (VLBW) infants. Pasteurized donor human milk (DM) should be provided for VLBW infants when own mother's milk (OMM) is not available. Prevention of Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is an important short-term benefit associated with human milk feeding. Human milk alone does not meet the nutritional requirements for VLBW infants leading to nutritional inadequacy, postnatal growthfaltering,and risk of poor neurodevelopmental outcome. Human milk fortification with multicomponent fortifiers increases calories and provides additional protein and minerals and should minimize nutritional deficits. Human milk derived fortifiers (HMDF) provide an exclusive human milk diet but recent evidence to recommend their use over cow milk derived fortifiers is lacking. Individualized fortification using human milk analyzers in real time is an emerging practice that allows for a more personalized provision of nutrient needs.