Edie, at our hospital, Kaiser, San Francisco, which has a tertiary care NICU, baby's first enteral feed is mom's fresh colostrum, if available.  If babies are gavage fed, it might be mixed with whatever else they're using at the time, to bring it up to the "appropriate volume."  If babies are nipple fed, they get the colostrum first, then whatever amount the peds deem necessary of ABM.

Which brings up a question for me.  Do premies taking moms' colostrum need the same volume per feed as an ABM fed baby?  Granted, they do not have the weightloss allowance that we would  allow for larger babies -- but shouldn't the colostrum, if there and pumped often (if baby can't go directly to breast) be basically enough?

Chanita, San Francisco