Formula milk versus donor breast milk for feeding preterm or low birth weight infants.

Study answer

What this study found

Formula milk produced better short-term growth than donor breast milk, but it also increased the risk of necrotising enterocolitis. Across pooled analyses, formula increased weight gain by 2.59 g/kg/day, crown-heel length by 1.14 mm/week, crown-rump length by 0.59 mm/week, femoral length by 0.34 mm/week, and head circumference by 1.25 mm/week. The risk of necrotising enterocolitis was higher with formula milk, with an overall estimate of 2.46 [1.19, 5.08]; feed intolerance or diarrhoea was also increased, while mortality and invasive infection were not clearly different. The review noted…

Study & population

Systematic review of eight trials including 1017 infants, mostly clinically stable preterm infants with gestational age less than about 32 weeks and/or birth weight less than about 1800 g.

Intervention

Formula milk was compared with donor human breast milk across eight trials in preterm or low birth weight infants.

Key limitation

Most trials were older, small, and heterogeneous in formula type, feeding protocol, and whether donor milk was fortified or unfortified.

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Original abstract