title: Donor human milk for preterm infants: what it is, what it can do, and what still needs to be learned.
abstract: Donor human milk is a dietary intervention rapidly increasing in usage in the very low birth weight (VLBW) preterm population. Donor milk may decrease risk of necrotizing enterocolitis and improve neurodevelopmental outcomes in VLBW infants compared with formula diets. The exclusive human milk diet shows promise as an intervention to decrease risk of necrotizing enterocolitis compared with formula. Further research is needed to assess the impact of donor human milk on infectious, growth, and neurodevelopmental outcomes of VLBW infants, as well as the effect of milk fortifier choice (human vs bovine) on these outcomes.
authors.affiliation: Carver College of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, University of Iowa, 200 Hawkins Drive, 8809 JPP, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA. Electronic address: tarah-colaizy@uiowa.edu.
authors.forename: Tarah T
authors.initials: TT
authors.lastname: Colaizy
mesh_terms: D004750:Enteral Nutrition / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007227:Infant Nutritional Physiological Phenomena / Q000502:physiology*; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature / Q000254:growth & development*; D008895:Milk, Human
keywords: Donor human milk; Necrotizing enterocolitis; Neurodevelopmental outcomes; VLBW infant