Original ArticleTarget Fortification of Breast Milk with Fat, Protein, and Carbohydrates for Preterm Infants
Section snippets
Methods
The study was a prospective, single-center clinical trial to test feasibility and safety of target fortification of breast milk. The trial was conducted in the NICU (level 3) at the McMaster Children's Hospital in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Clinical data of infants enrolled in the trial were compared with data from infants who had been fed with routinely fortified breast milk using a matched pair analysis. The study was approved by the Research Ethics Board of McMaster University. Informed
Results
During the study period (March 2011- November 2011), informed consent was obtained for 23 infants. Thirteen infants were excluded from analysis; 5 infants were excluded prior to initiation of target fortification (3 infants were transferred to level 2 [L2] nursery, 1 developed sepsis, and 1 developed bloody stools). Eight infants did not complete 3 consecutive weeks (4 were transferred to L2 nurseries, mothers of 2 infants had insufficient breast milk supply, and 2 infants developed sepsis).
Discussion
In this study, we showed that target fortification of breast milk is a feasible clinical routine. We provided a defined enteral intake according to the ESPGHAN guidelines12; this was achieved by analyzing the composition of each 12-hour batch of pooled breast milk and adjusting macronutrients (fat, protein, and carbohydrate) accordingly. Infants on target fortification had growth rates, which were linearly correlated to the feeding volume. All safety measurements during the intervention were
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Cited by (0)
C.F. holds the Hamilton Health Sciences Foundation–Jack Sinclair Chair in Neonatology at McMaster University, Faculty of Health Sciences. The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
Registered with ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT01305642.