KIMIE: New Human Breast Milk Pasteurizer-Fully Automated, User Friendly, Cost-Effective Device for Universal Application

Abstract

Natural mother’s breast milk (MBM) is the best food for all newborns especially the preterm. However, when natural MBM is not available or insufficient donor breast milk (DBM) is the second-best option. Sterifeed or HSC human milk pasteurizers have been commonly used for several decades. While these devices have served the purpose, they are relatively large, expensive, require special electrical and water connections, need a large amount of water which is not recycled and an ongoing supply of disposable plastic bottles. In addition, the use of these machines requires special training. Here we describe the development of a compact, automated, user-friendly human breast milk pasteurizer (HBMP) named Kimie capable of pasteurizing small volumes of DBM. This device does not require special water plumbing, recycles water, is inexpensive and does not require FDA approval.