Research and Clinical Inquiry

(1013) Personalization of Donor Human Milk Using Fresh or Frozen Mother’s Milk

Poster Presenter(s)

Marion M. Bendixen, PhD, MSN, RN, IBCLC

Post Doctoral Associate
University of Florida, College of Nursing
Winter Park, Florida, United States
Disclosure: I do not have any relevant financial / non-financial relationships with any proprietary interests.

Co-Author(s)

NH

Natalie A. Harrison, PhD

Post Doctoral Associate
University of Florida, Department of Microbiology and Cell Science
Gainesville, Florida, United States
Disclosure: I do not have any relevant financial / non-financial relationships with any proprietary interests.
MT

Monica F. Torrez Lamberti, PhD

Post Doctoral Associate
University of Florida, Department of Microbiology and Cell Science
Gainesville, Florida, United States
Disclosure: I do not have any relevant financial / non-financial relationships with any proprietary interests.
Josef Neu, MD

Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Division of Neonatology
UF Health Shands Children’s Hospital
Gainesville, Florida, United States
Disclosure: Astarte (Advisory Board Member)Infant bacterial therapeutics (Other) (Products/Services: Research grant)medela (Advisory Board Member)
GL

Graciela L. Lorca, PhD

Professor
University of Florida, Department of Microbiology and Cell Science
Gianesville, Florida, United States
Disclosure: I do not have any relevant financial / non-financial relationships with any proprietary interests.
Leslie A. Parker, PhD, APRN, FAANP, FAAN

Associate Professor
University of Florida, College of Nursing
Gianesville, Florida, United States
Disclosure: I do not have any relevant financial / non-financial relationships with any proprietary interests.

Exclusive mother's own milk (MOM) feedings may be beneficial to the development of both systemic and gut host immune response and suggests advantages of lower rates of sepsis and shortened hospital stay compared to donor human milk (DHM) or preterm formula feedings. The priority in current practice is to give preterm infants recently expressed MOM followed by frozen MOM, which occurs approximately 50% of the time. Often an ample supply of recently expressed MOM or frozen MOM is not available due to the the logistics of mother's visits or insufficient milk supply owing for the need to supplement with DHM. Donor milk is obtained from pooled donors and pasteurized, rendering the milk devoid of personalized live commensal bacteria. Yet, it is unknown whether frozen milk still contains live microbiota and if their microbial diversity could produce similar results to that of a previous study, in which MOM was inoculated and incubated in DHM to obtain an enriched microbiota similar to MOM. Our study showed that although each fresh MOM microbiota was individually unique, after a certain period of time and dilution, frozen MOM inoculated into DHM produced similar microbial diversity to the individual MOM.

Learning Objectives:

Identify a difference between mother's own milk and donor human milk.
Describe a method to maximize mother's own milk when mother's milk is in short supply.