Die invloed van borsmelkverrykers op die groei van lae geboortemassa-babas

Abstract

The feeding of low birth weight babies remains a challenge. Mother's milk is deficient in protein, calcium, magnesium and phosphate. These elements need to be supplemented in order for the low weight baby to grow under optimal conditions. The objective of the study was to compare the growth of the low birth weight babies, fed only on mothers milk, with those fed on mother's milk, in addition to a commercial fortifier, using the babies' mass, length and head circumference as a guide. The literature study has shown that there are different methods of supplementing the deficiencies in mother's milk, for example, premature milk formula, alternating mother's milk and premature milk formula, additional supplements to mother's milk, and commercial fortifiers. Previous studies have shown that the biochemistry of mother's milk fortifiers influence growth positively. Six low birth weight babies were used in the experimental group and received 25% mother's milk and 75% fortifier. The control group consisted of eight babies, fed on mother's milk only. All the babies met the criteria and reached a 1600 gram weight by the end of the study. The Mann Whitney U-test was used to calculate the results. No statistically significant results were obtained for any of the variables tested.


Health SA Gesondheid Vol.6(3) 2001: 44-58