Comparison of Monosaccharide Content of Maternal and Umbilical Venous Cord Blood in Term and Preterm Pregnancies

Mother's breast milk provides many benefits to babies with regard to development and improved health. We believe the simple sugars which make up these complex sugars in breast milk and are also found in the brain may be critical to normal brain development in term and preterm infants.

Babies are exposed to these sugars by placental transport during pregnancy and through mother's breast milk after they are born. For the preterm infant, we do not know if breast milk gives enough of these sugars compared to what the baby gets during pregnancy.

A maternal blood sample and blood samples from the baby's umbilical cord will provide us with background information for developing a supplement of special sugars that can be added to infant formulas to provide the amount that the baby usually gets during pregnancy and from breast milk.