#438 - 🔵 [PAS 2026] - Can Freeze-Dried Mother's Own Breast Milk Replace Commercial Fortifiers in the NICU?

Send us Fan MailDr. Bridget Young, researcher at the University of Rochester, shares early but promising work on using freeze-dried mother's own breast milk — including a skim milk fraction — as a fortifier for human milk feeds in the NICU. She explains why milk variability makes accuracy the central challenge in this approach, how her team validated a method using macronutrient analysis to consistently hit a target caloric density of 28 kcal per ounce, and why the skim milk fraction in particular can deliver a protein content that rivals commercial bovine fortifiers. She also introduces the concept of mother's own breast milk cream — a centrifuge-derived calorie booster that families in her unit have found deeply empowering — and lays out honestly what it would take to bring lactoengineering from a research setting into routine clinical practice.Support the showAs always, feel free to send us questions, comments, or suggestions to our email: [email protected]. You can also contact the show through Instagram or Twitter, @nicupodcast. Or contact Ben and Daphna directly via their Twitter profiles: @drnicu and @doctordaphnamd. The papers discussed in today's episode are listed and timestamped on the webpage linked below.Enjoy!