Narrator: Your child receives human milk that is prepared with formula to meet their nutrition needs. Human milk calorie concentration varies and is about 20 calories per ounce. Your healthcare provider has prescribed a higher caloric density human milk for your child which is made by adding formula powder to human milk. Your childs health depends on following these instructions. This video will take you through the steps to properly fortify human milk.
Next, get ready to add powdered formula to the human milk. Do not use the scoop found in the can of formula; instead use a teaspoon from a measuring spoon set to measure a level teaspoon of formula powder. Add the desired number of teaspoons of formula to the human milk. The amount will be based on the mixing instructions provided by a healthcare professional.
Finally, mix the human milk and formula together. This can be done by closing the bottle and shaking until well-mixed, about 10 to 15 seconds. Once human milk is fortified, feed your child immediately or cover and store in the refrigerator to prevent growth of bacteria. Throw out any unused fortified human milk 24 hours after preparation. Discard any fortified human milk that is still in the bottle 1 hour after the start of a bottle feeding or has been out of the refrigerator for more than 4 hours when given by feeding tube.
Wash your hands and get your supplies ready. You will need expressed breast milk, a container of powder formula, a teaspoon from a measuring spoon set, a bottle and mixing instructions provided by a healthcare professional. Check the use by date on the formula can to make sure the formula has not expired.
Significant difference in gain of weight, length and head circumference was found in intervention group compared with Controls, P<0.05 ( ).
Fifty low birth weight preterm infants completed the study. Group I (Cases, n=25) where PDF was used for fortification of mothers’ breast milk, and group II (Controls, n=25) where no fortification was added. At the beginning of the study, there was no significant difference between the two groups as regards gestational age, gender, birth weight, length and occipital-frontal circumference, P>0.05. The main causes of prematurity in both groups were maternal pre-eclampsia, multiple gestation, antepartum and accidental hemorrhage.
We used SPSS version 24 for statistics. For continuous data, mean±SD and Student’s t-test were used. Non-parametric Mann Whitney U test was used where appropriate if data were not normally distributed. While percent (%) and Chi Square test were used for categorical variables. Pearson test was used when appropriate. A P-value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant.
Further studies are required to investigate the causes of insufficient breast milk in mothers of preterm infants. NICUs with accommodation for preterm mothers might help them provide more breast milk. Other studies, which would include mothers with only good breast milk supply for exclusive enteral feeding with fortification, might endorse our results and detect more complications of use of PDF in this vulnerable group of infants.
Inclusion criteria were preterm (gestational age <37 weeks), and very low birth weight (birth weight <1500 g) infants, no intolerance to enteral feedings, enteral feeding volume of 100 mL/kg/day, and mothers willing to provide breast milk by manual breast bump.
FAQ
How do you fortify breast milk with NeoSure?
Can you mix Similac NeoSure with breast milk?
How do you fortify breast milk to 27 calories with NeoSure?
How do you fortify breast milk at 22?
Add 1/2 teaspoon of regular formula powder to 3 ounces (89 mL) of pumped breast milk.