Human milk: relationship of fat content with gestational age

In order to assess the suitability of early human milk as a food for preterm infants, concentrations of fat were analyzed in milk samples representative of complete 24-h expressions, obtained serially over the first 30 days of lactation from 47 mothers delivering at term (FT) and 25 mothers delivering prematurely (PT). During the first postpartum month milk fat increased with progressing lactation both in FT and PT mothers' group. The increase was significant over the first 10 day period. During this stage the fat content was significantly higher in the milk from PT mothers than in FT mothers. A significant inverse correlation of fat content with gestational age was established. On the basis of these results, the higher energy intake obtained with PT milk suggests that is may be reasonable to prefer the use of mothers' own early milk than pooled milk as the more appropriate feeding for premature infants.