ICU and Milk Lab

UAMS Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU)

The UAMS NICU and staff provide care for early, high-risk, low birth weight infants and acutely ill full-term newborns. The level IIIB unit has 64 beds in a single-room design so each infant has a room.

Three pediatric registered dietitians (RDs) are available to work closely with an interdisciplinary team of physicians, residents, pharmacists, therapists, social workers, lactation consultants, nurses and the UAMS Milk Lab every day.

Our registered dietitians provide up-to-date, evidence-based nutritional recommendations to promote proportional growth and neurodevelopment of newborns. They also work closely with the UAMS Women, Infants and Children (WIC) clinic to ensure mothers receive their re-certification and breast pumps promptly after birth. Some of our dietitians are board-certified specialists in pediatric critical care.

UAMS Milk Lab

The NICU nourishes its patients with milk from the state-of-the-art UAMS Milk Lab. Human milk is the preferred feeding for all infants. Additional nutrients from fortifiers can be added to human milk to boost the calorie, protein, vitamin and mineral content. We safely prepare, label and store fortified mothers own milk, fortified donor milk and concentrated formulas to make them available to hospitalized infants.

Trained milk technicians staff the UAMS Milk lab seven days per week from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. They prepare all breast milk and formula feedings to be delivered at 4:30 p.m. daily.

Pasteurized Donor Human Milk (PDHM)

PDHM is available to all hospitalized infants in the UAMS NICU and those with special circumstances in our well baby unit. We obtain it from a Mother's Milk Bank (MMB) which is certified by the Human Milk Banking Association of North America. PDHM may be ordered when a mom's own milk supply is still being established or when a mom experiences a low milk supply. We provide it only after obtaining caregiver consent.

Moms who produce more milk than their child needs may want to consider becoming a human milk donor. In the face of infant demise, some moms find comfort for their devastating loss by donating their milk to other moms and babies in need.

The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences opened the UAMS Milk Bank, the first facility of its kind in Arkansas, on September 6, 2023.

Additional Information

Breastfeeding Resources
Our NICU
UAMS Milk Bank