Necrotizing enterocolitis: the evidence for use of human milk in prevention and treatment

Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is one of the diagnoses for which donor human milk is regularly prescribed. The role of human milk in both prevention and treatment of NEC has long been recognized. Human milk, whether mother's own or donor, provides significant protection against many of the known risk factors of NECas well as therapeutic protection for the infant recovering from NEC. In the absence of mother's own milk, donor human milk could be life saving to fragile preterm infants, who are at highest risk of developing NEC.