"Please don't respond indignantly that we SHOULD be tailoring each infant's
milk to his/her exact needs!  We don't yet know exactly what those needs
are!  
Each drug is not tailored to the individiual patient."

This isn't meant to be indignant. I just want to point out that, while drugs
themselves are not tailored for patients, their dosages and even which drug
or cocktail of drugs is used, definitely is individualized.  My point in
commenting on what Paula Meier does in her program was to say that they do
attempt to tailor their care to the individual baby.  One way you tell what
a baby needs is by how well they grow.  If they don't grow well, they need
something different.  I think the difference I was trying to point out was
that they do individualize their care to include the content of the milk
each baby receives, operating on the basis that if the baby isn't growing
well on the human milk they are receiving, the contents are adjusted to
improve the baby's growth.  They don't just switch the baby to PF.  She
showed a machine they use called the Creamatocrit Plus, which is small and
easy to use (and I can't imagine it cost >$100,000 but I could be wrong)
which does the spinning of the sample and reads out the creamatocrit,
calorie and fat content.  Not to make this too long, but the mothers use it
for their own babies to achieve the fat content ordered for their baby.  It
works well in their NICU; they manage to get babies to grow on human milk.
I was very impressed with their program (and I am a skeptic by nature) as it
really made sense to me.  They truly have the attitude that human milk is
the best thing for all babies, and especially for sick ones, so how can we
make sure a baby gets what it needs while still giving it human milk.
Sometimes that meant partial human milk feedings, but almost never exclusive
formula feeds.  Again, I am posting my understanding of what she said they
do.  I hope I have not spoken in error!  It is definitely a complicated
issue!

Marsha

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Marsha Glass RN, BSN, IBCLC~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mothers have as powerful an influence over the welfare of future generations
as all other earthly causes combined.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~John S. C. Abbot~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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