Anne wrote <I work in an Australia NICU ,we stop HMF/LBW s26 at 2kgs.When babies considered term should be treated as term baby not as preemie which is what alot of peds forget.This means that they breast feed fully as per normal term baby,if unable to suck feed every feed at breast then be offered EBM via what ever means Mum wants to use.> Anne I also work in a SCN in Australia and I am aware of the growing body of evidence that HMF or high calorie formula is beneficial even post discharge. It must be remembered that a 2 kg term or near term baby is still a very low weight baby and below the 3rd percentile. I question why fortification is ceased at 2 kg if the baby still remains in hospital for other reasons and is not having all feeds from the breast. Fortification has been demonstrated in the short to medium term to enhance bone mineralisation and to increase linear growth, head circumference and brain growth. In many cases we do not cease fortification until 2 days prior to discharge so these small premies get the increased benefits for longer. Although we currently do not continue fortification post discharge (we encourage exclusive breastfeeding), I am aware from reading the literature and the research on the topic that there may be very good and valid reasons to give some extra supplementation (in the form of HMF) for some feeds post discharge and even for several months post discharge. I am open to new ideas and change in this area. Many of these small babies also are discharged at 35 to 36 weeks and cannot (by definition) be considered term. Marian Rigney RN and (hopefully in waiting) 2002 IBCLC candidate _________________________________________________________________ MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos: http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html