Clinical Experience with a New, Non-Acidified Liquid Human Milk Fortifier in Very Low Birth Weight Infants.

Abstract

Objective To compare nutritional outcomes among infants receiving a new non-acidified liquid human milk fortifier (NALHMF) or an acidified liquid human milk fortifier (ALHMF). Study Design: Retrospective, multicenter study including 515 VLBW infants. Primary outcome was growth velocity during fortification. Student’s t, ANOVA, Wilcoxon, and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used for numeric variables, or, chi-squared and Fisher’s exact test for categorical variables. Growth velocity between groups was compared with repeated measures regression. Results 242 and 273 infants received ALHMF and NALHMF, respectively, with no demographic differences between the groups. Growth velocity during fortification was significantly higher in the group receiving NALHMF, despite similar total fluid or calorie intake. Metabolic acidosis was diagnosed less frequently with the NALHMF, with marked differences between centers. Conclusion Fortification of human milk using the new NALHMF resulted in faster growth velocity during fortification and less metabolic acidosis compared with feeding human milk fortified with an ALHMF.