New research claims premature babies may benefit from human milk fat and improve growth wise while in neonatal intensive care units.
The research, conducted by a team from USDA/ARS Children's Nutrition Research Center at Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children's Hospital, reveals a cream supplement as part of a premature infant's diet can help spur weight gain and aid in organ development.
"For premature babies who weigh less than 1,000 grams (about 2 pounds, 2 ounces), one of the problems is that their lungs and other organs are still developing when they are born. If the infant gains weight and increases in length at a good rate while in the NICU, this helps improve their outcomes," said Dr. Amy Hair, assistant professor of pediatrics at Baylor, neonatologist at Texas Children's Hospital and first author of the study, in a press release.
The study, published in the Journal of Pediatrics, further supports earlier studies that human milk can help premature infants. One such study shown that an exclusive human milk diet helped protect infants' intestines.
The Baylor study focused on infants weighting between 750 and 1,250 grams, who were in needed of more calories. The team of researchers compared the growth outcomes of infants who received the exclusive human milk diet and the cream supplement to infants who received just the exclusive human milk diet. Babies in the cream supplement group had better growth outcomes in terms of weight and length than infants in the control group.
"This is a natural way to give them fat. Previously, we would add oils or infant formula to help premature babies grow, but we can now use a natural source from donor milk," said Hair.
The researcher notes growth was seen in weight and length, which likely means lean mass, consisting of bone and muscle growth.
"You want to see babies growing in both weight and length," said Hair.
Increasing the cream supplement won't result in greater growth, note the researchers as infants can only tolerate a specific amount.
"You cannot give them more volumes of milk. Especially if they have lung problems, they have to have a certain volume of milk. This is a way to add calories but not change the volume of milk," she said.
According to the release Texas Children's was the first hospital ever to add human milk-based cream to the diets of premature weight infants.
"Texas Children's strives to be a leader in human milk feeding, because we know it impacts outcomes," said Hair.
Infants born before the 37th week are considered premature, notes a report. Premature babies often suffer from critical health issues, such as respiratory distress, apnea, and infection.
