Human Milk and the Premature Infant: Focus on Use of Pasteurized Donor Human Milk in the NICU

Abstract

Human milk is the ideal source of nutrition for the healthy term infant and has significant advantages for the premature and/or critically ill infant. The advantages of unpasteurized mother’s own milk over pasteurized human donor milk include higher content of protein, fat, some minerals and vitamins, and several bioactive molecules. These advantages translate to better growth and fewer episodes of necrotizing enterocolitis among premature infants. Pasteurized donor human milk is the preferred nutrition for premature infants when the supply of mother’s own milk is limited. The following are likely to improve outcomes of premature and critically ill infants: increased use of mother’s own milk, increased availability of pasteurized donor human milk, and improved techniques for eliminating potential milk pathogens without decreasing the nutritional and bio-protective capacity of human milk.