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Study: Breast Milk Helps Preemies

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Jul 9, 2006 4:11 pm US/Central

Study: Breast Milk Helps Preemies

Later Mental Development Improved

CHICAGO (CBS News) ― A study finds that breast milk fed to premature babies appears to help their mental development in later life.

The study is published in the Journal of Pediatrics. It shows that the ingredients in breast milk, particularly fatty acids, seem to help the brain develop properly. Babies who weighed two pounds or less did better on mental-development tests at 18 months than other babies fed only formula.

"Human milk was designed for babies," says Dr. Alice Gong. "The babies who got human milk ... the more human milk they got, the better they did. So those are very good things."

While the study did not include babies given donor milk, low-birthweight babies whose mothers cannot breastfeed often choose milk from a mother's milk bank. There's one in Austin, where the cost is about $3.00 per ounce.

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