Donor Milk May Lack Nutrients For Preemies

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40459216/ns/health/

Breast milk helps protect premature babies from potentially fatal complications, but sometimes mothers of preemies are unable to produce breast milk because their body is not ready at that stage to produce milk, or the stress of having a premature baby might make them unable to produce milk.

Preemie babies are often fed with donated breast milk, meant to supplement what the mother provides. But a new study shows that donor milk may lack key nutrients. Researchers found that donated breast milk did not contain enough of a fatty acid that tiny babies need for their developing nervous systems, and also lacked amino acids, the building blocks of proteins.

One good thing that the researchers found is that pasteurizing donor milk - needed to kill any lingering microbes, which could be deadly to preemies with developing immune systems - did not affect any nutrients, suggesting this step doesn't strip donor milk of what preemies need.

Dr. Hawley Montgomery-Downs, who was not involved in the study, said women's bodies have an amazing capacity to adapt to their babies' requirements. "The woman is producing milk for her baby that is just right for the baby at that age," said Montgomery-Downs. Milk expressed for a normal-term baby may simply be somewhat inadequate for a preemie's higher nutritional needs, she explained.

Researchers are currently investigating whether adding protein powder to donor milk boosts the amino acid content. But when it comes to DHA, it's not as simple as just supplementing donor samples, since the extra fatty acid could displace the balance of other nutrients.

Instead, her team is testing whether asking moms to eat more DHA from sources such as fish, algae and eggs of chicken fed extra DHA, improves the fatty acid content of their breast milk.