Human milk fortifier is an additive we use to increase the calories of breast milk. You see, breast milk has 20 Kcal's...most premature babies require more calories for growth and development, since they are premature babies. Even when offered a bottle feed(which we think nothing about) requires a lot of energy from the premature baby...if we do not increase the calories in their diet via TPN ( Total parenteral nutrition) IL ( intra-lipids) and milk fortifiers, the premature baby will lose weight and fail to develop properly. Of course, every "medication" has it's side effects...the TPN and IL are given intravenously...and that has all kinds of side effects so the doctors try to wean them off as quickly as possible and introduce breast milk ( with is the best for them) or donor breast milk if the mother is not producing any . Well, that's where the fortifier comes in...many times they are on a 24 Kcal's ...and slowly get weaned to 22...then eventually 20 before going home. In the past, we used to have to add MCT oil, beneprotein etc for increased protein and calories, but , again, they all had side effects. Even some human milk fortifiers are better than others....they have done evidence based study that show some brands are more acidic than others causing many neonatal GI disturbances/ problems....so there is always a company out there trying to show how their product is better than others....but my thing is, the data can be skewed to favor their product...and if it's not natural, then it will have some sort of side effect....I feel, if what they are selling truly is better that what is currently in the market, you should have to take people out to fancy dinners etc...the product should speak for itself.
You are viewing a single comment's thread from:
I completely agree with your view! Thank you for taking the time to answer my question! =)
I think you may enjoy my post on vaccines in Australia!
https://steemit.com/health/@jockey/children-vaccinated-at-birth-for-hepatitis-b-in-australia?sort=new#comments
Upvoted!
Cheers! =)