Dear all:

While there definitely is a place for human donor milk, I just did a detailed interpretation of the 
Schanler study.  It clearly shows the advantages of mother's own milk and why we should do 
everything possible to promote this.  I took only the significant findings.  If there is statistical 
significance, the sample size IS adequate.  Where there is doubt in this study is areas where the 
differences between the formula and the human donor milk groups were not detectable because 
of a low sample size.

Here are the findings that are relavant and significant.


1) The bacterial and fungal isolates in the blood was significantly higher (p=0.028) among 
premature infants who were fed formula (45% increase) or human donor milk (52% increase) than 
among those who were fed their mother's own milk. 

2) The cases of death and infection per 100 was significantly higher (p=0.012) among premature 
infants who were fed formula (81% higher) or human donor milk (64% higher) than among those 
who were fed their mother's own milk.

3) The proportion of infants who suffered more than one episode of Necrotising Enterocolitis 
(NEC) or Late Onset Sepsis (LOS) were significantly higher (p=0.023) among premature infants who 
were fed formula (5.3 x higher) or human donor milk (3.3 x higher) than among those who were 
fed their mother's own milk.

4) The duration of the hospital stay was significantly higher among premature infants who were 
fed formula (20% higher) or human donor milk (16% higher) than among those who were fed their 
mother's own milk.

5) The average duration of skin-to-skin contact was significantly lower (p=0.0001)  among 
premature infants who were fed formula (2.8 x lower) or donor milk (3.0 x lower) than among 
those who were fed their mother's own milk.

Further study with a larger sample size should determine whether human donor milk has an 
advantage over formula in preventing repeated episodes of NEC or LOS.  As you can see the 
difference between a 5.3 times greater proportion of infants having more than one episode of 
these serious conditions or 3.3 times greater proportion of infants is potentially a substantial and 
biologically important difference.

Paula Meier's has already demonstrated the cost-effectiveness of her style of promoting mother's 
own milk for premature infants.  The benefits listed above clearly demonstrate that this should 
always be the first option available.  

Best regards, Susan Burger

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