The Canadian Donor Milk Trial (CanDo): Pasteurized human donor milk supplementation in the well baby unit

The proposed trial will evaluate the benefit of using donor human milk versus formula as a supplement to parent milk, when the latter is unavailable, in the well-baby nursery. Although the goal for infant feeding is exclusive parent milk from birth, up to 50% of all infants in well-baby units receive a supplement for a variety of reasons including parent illness, infant low blood sugar or excessive weight loss, and in the instance of two-father families among other reasons. The current standard is for this supplement to be infant formula, however the practice of using human donor milk for this population is growing without any research-based evidence. In view of limited human donor milk in Canada, its use is prioritized to sick, hospitalized infants where there is research evidence for its benefit. It is an opportune time to determine if providing human donor milk to well newborns in well-baby units is scientifically merited. The primary outcome will be exclusive human milk feeding at 4 months as it is hypothesized that provision of donor milk will improve the duration and exclusivity of human milk feeding and the latter is associated with a multitude of health and development advantages.

Faculty Supervisor:

Sharon Unger;Deborah O'Connor

Student:

Partner:

Sinai Health System

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

Health and Related Sciences & Technology; Manufacturing

University:

University of Toronto

Program: