Breast Milk and the High-Risk Baby: Potential Benefits and Hazards

Abstract

Encouraged by evidence that breast-fed babies get fewer infections than formula-fed babies and that human milk contains a number of protective nutritional and immunologic factors, many centers are establishing breast-milk banks for the feeding of high-risk infants. However, the advantages of banked human milk remain to be proved, while the risks arising from environmental and other contamination are well established.