The exclusive modern approach: Human Milk Banking
It is universally accepted that breast milk is the optimum exclusive source of nutrition for the first six months of life, and may remain part of the healthy infant diet for the first two years of life and beyond. Despite advances in infant formulas, human breast milk provides a bioactive matrix of benefits that cannot be replicated by any other source of nutrition. When the mother’s own milk is unavailable for the sick, hospitalized newborn, pasteurized human donor breast milk should be made available as an alternative feeding choice followed by commercial formula. There is a limited supply of donor breast milk in Canada and it should be prioritized to sick, hospitalized neonates who are the most vulnerable and most likely to benefit from exclusive human milk feeding.
Recommendations
- The preferred nutrition for the newborn is his/her own mother’s milk. When this is not available or is limited, pasteurized human donor breast milk is a recommended alternative for hospitalized neonates.
- The use of pasteurized human donor breast milk should be prioritized to compromised preterm infants and selected ill term newborns.
- Pasteurized human donor breast milk should only be prescribed following written informed consent from a parent or guardian.
- Education of parents about the benefits of human breast milk or pasteurized human donor breast milk is essential to parental choice and informed decision making in prescribing an optimal feeding plan for hospitalized neonates.
- Milk banking should be adopted as a cost-effective nutritional source for hospitalized neonates because it reduces disease incidence and severity, thus reducing resource use during the hospitalization.
- Recognized functions of the human milk bank should include the promotion of breastfeeding and ongoing human milk research.
- There is a need for prospective studies to evaluate the benefits of banked human breast milk in preterm infants in the NICU.
- The Canadian Paediatric Society does not endorse the sharing of unprocessed human milk.
