Human Milk Supplements: Principles, Practices, and Current Controversies

Human milk is the most optimal source of nutrition for preterm and term infants. However, in most preterm infants, breast milk fails to meet the energy needs of the newborn infant. Overwhelming evidence supports the fortification of breast milk in preterm infants to facilitate better short-term outcomes. Several single-nutrient and multinutrient breast milk supplements and fortifiers are used to improve the macronutrient and micronutrient content of breast milk. An individualized fortification strategy has the potential to offer better results compared with standard fortification strategies. Human milk-derived fortification is promising, but the benefits in exclusively human milk-fed preterm infants are unclear.