Donor Milk for Preemies

[Xiaohua]

Hi,
I am not a parent to a preemie, but I have a question I wonder if any of you experienced people might know the answer, or where I can find research to learn more. Is it OK to feed donor milk to 30-35 week preemies if the donor's own baby is not only full term, but already 3 months, 6 months, one year old? I realize that the milk of women who deliver prematurely is uniquely suited to meeting preemies' needs. But what happens when you feed breastmilk from the mother of a term, older baby (if the preemie's mother is unable/unwilling to express)? Is that bad? Is it better to feed formula?

I was under the assumption that breastmilk was still better, even if not from the preemie's own mother. But some pediatricians today told me that this is not good and can cause all sorts of problems, including diarrhea. I realize that the milk may not be nutritionally complete (you probably need iron/multivitamin supplements) but isn't it better to get the antibodies instead of using preemie formula?

If you have experiences or resources to help answer this please let me know.
Thanks!

Serena

[CorasMama]

personally, I would probably only feed donor milk to a preemie if it was from the mother of a newborn or thereabouts. My concern would be the fat content.

[EmilyG]

The benefits of donor milk are far better than that of formula, even if the donor has on older baby. The breastmilk (from a donor milk bank) has been pasturized, so it isn't as good as fresh breastmilk from the mom, but still is better. It's much easier to digest than formula, and those little tummies have enough trouble digesting milk early without maing it formula! There are still so many wonderful things in breastmilk! As far as calorie content of the milk, we always assume that breastmilk is 22kcal/ounce. We can add HMF ((human milk fortifier)made by formula companies), which increases the calories in the milk making it 24kcal, 27kcal, all the way up to 30kcal if they're really trying to get weight on a baby.

[justmama]

There are a ton of milk banks in this country specifically designed for getting milk to sick term babies and preemies only. Breastmilk is best. Preemies do thrive on formula too but breastmilk is better, even donated milk from the mom of an older baby.

[sbrinton]

I agree that breast milk is best. I think milk banks prefer to give preemies milk from preemie moms, if possible, but any (safe) breastmilk is better than formula in many circumstances. It is possible to add HMF or another fortifier, as well as to give the baby a multivitamin with extra iron.

[pixiekisses]

Yeah, breastmilk is best no matter what. In our NICU they would add extra fats/calories to the milk sometimes, and I'm guessing that might be partly because it was donated from a mom with an older child.
It's fresh though, in all the donor milk banks here, it's fresh breastmilk.