Breakthrough made in premature baby care | Northern Rivers Parenting | Parents and Children in Northern Rivers

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AUSTRALIAN scientists have made a breakthrough in the care of premature babies, using a mothers' milk to top-up a chemical vital for the brain's development.

Adelaide-based researchers identified a lack of the omega-3 fatty acid, known as Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), in the babies which placed them at risk of impaired development in childhood.

Dr Maria Makrides found by giving capsules of DHA-rich tuna oil to their mothers, doctors could then feed DHA-boosted breast milk to the tiny infants which can be kept alive despite being born eight weeks early.

"It is a finding that we're all incredibly excited about," says Dr Makrides, deputy director of the Women's and Children's Health Research Institute.

"Very premature babies have very high nutrient requirements but they're incredible difficult to feed.

"What we were trying to do was match what they would have normally accumulated if they were still in the womb.

"It shows that babies do have a dietary requirement for their brains and we need to get this building block, DHA, closer to what they would normally be exposed to."

The study, conducted along with Professor Bob Gibson from the University of Adelaide, took six years to complete and involved more than 650 premature babies born across five hospitals.

Researchers found that by adding extra DHA to the milk used to sustain the babies, the rate of significant developmental delay in later life could be almost halved.

Premature girls drew a particular benefit, and Dr Makrides said more work was needed to ensure boys' additional DHA needs were also met.

Children involved in the study will be monitored until they turn seven years of age.

Dr Makrides said medical advances were increasingly allowing the focus to shift from the survival of premature babies to quality of life.

"The more severe disabilities, like deafness and blindness, they are actually quite rare now," she said.

"What we're most excited by is we have halved the rate of significant mental delay in these children."

The research findings were published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).