81 USE OF HUMAN MILK IN LBW INFANTS FEEDING

Top of pageAbstract Human milk (H.M.) contains an insufficient quantity of protein to fulfill the requirements of the growing small LBW infant These babies consume varying amounts of milk to grow at adequate rates. This is certainly due to the variable energy density in H.M. The analysis of 24 samples of H.M., as it is given to LBW infants, showed that the protein content (N × 6.38) was 1.9 ±0.4g./dl (range: 1.1 to 2.7), fat content 2.7±1.0g./dl.(range 0.68 to 4.2) and calories 60.8±10.1(range 40.7 to 77.0). This variability of H.M. and the problems to run H.M. banks determine the need of standardizing H.M. by supplementation, after its individualization by simple bed-side methods. For this purpose we have developed a method to quantify fat content of H.M. by centrifugation in a Wintrobe tube of 1 ml of H.M. The correlation between thickness in mm. of the fat layer and the Roese-Gottlieb chemical method was 0.97 (p<0.0001). The amount of fat in g./dl. in H.M. is given by the regression equation: y=0.0549 + 0.4948x, where y= fat g./dl. and x= fat layer in mm. The simplicity of the method brings about a new feeding approach and research tool for future studies.