There is an absence of randomised trials investigating the use of preterm banked milk compared to term banked milk for very low birthweight infants
- Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Correspondence to Dorothy Dougherty
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Women and Babies Program, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Toronto, Ontario M4N 3N5, Canada; dorothy.dougherty{at}sunnybrook.ca
- Published Online First 24 September 2010
Sharing breast milk has always had a place in the history of infant feeding. However in 1985, it was established that HIV can pass from mother to child via breast milk ingestion, and there was doubt that the pasteurisation process could render donor breast milk free of the virus.1 This uncertainty decreased breast milk sharing and forced the closure of almost all North American milk banks. In response, the Human Milk Bank of North America association (HMBANA) was created. It galvanised policy creation, regulated operational standards and optimised screening of potential breast milk donors.2 Since then, research has shown that HIV along with hepatitis A, B, C and human T lymphotropic virus are eliminated during the pasteurising process.3 Pasteurised human …
