SWALLOWING artificial amniotic fluid might speed up bowel development in premature babies and help them cope with milk sooner.
Premature babies often have to be fed intravenously. In the womb, they would still be gulping down huge quantities of amniotic fluid. But aside from the fact it consists largely of fetal urine, not much was known about its make-up. Robert Christensen’s group at the University of South Florida College of Medicine in St Petersburg has discovered that the fluid actually contains many growth factors. “It’s the growth factors in amniotic fluid that helps the intestine to develop,” says Christensen.
The…
