Protective Role of Human Milk for Preemies Unclear
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
Fri 26 November, 2004 17:27
By Megan Rauscher
"NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Currently available research findings do not provide conclusive evidence that feeding very low birth weight (VLBW) premature babies human milk offers significant protection against infection. The belief that human milk feeding will help ward of infection in these vulnerable infants is one of the chief reasons for advocating the practice, clinicians from the UK note in the Archives of Diseases of Childhood Neonatal Edition. 'However, using human milk to feed premature babies is much more difficult than using a formula, so this practice needs to be evidence based,' Dr. S. Andrew Spencer from University Hospital of North Staffordshire, told Reuters Health."..."