Breast milk bar code scanning results in time savings and staff efficiency.

P ROVIDING BREAST MILK TO A hospitalized infant is generally a more complex process than breastfeeding a healthy baby. Mothers often must pump their milk so that it may be fed via tube or bottle, and the use of human milk fortifiers and other additives to increase calories or other nutrients may be necessary to meet the needs of a preterm or ill infant. Because pumping volumes are highly individualized and may vary, preparing an individual baby’s feeding may require the combination of multiple bottles of his or her mother’s milk or the division of one bottle into multiple feedings. Safety concerns increase with greater manipulation. Improper handling could result in contamination of feedings, which may be life-threatening for the preterm or hospitalized infant. Inaccurate patient identification before combining or splitting containers may lead to a baby receiving the wrong mother’s milk. Mathematical calculation errors may result in improper, and possibly harmful, breast milk fortification.