Mother’s Own Milk Feeding in Preterm Newborns Admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit or Special-Care Nursery: Obstacles, Interventions, Risk Calculation

Nadja Heller, Mario Rüdiger, Vanessa Hoffmeister and Lars Mense
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Nadja Heller: Department of Pediatrics, Division of Neonatology & Pediatric Intensive Care, Saxonian Center for Feto/Neonatal Health, University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus Dresden, TU Dresden, 01307 Dresden, Germany
Mario Rüdiger: Department of Pediatrics, Division of Neonatology & Pediatric Intensive Care, Saxonian Center for Feto/Neonatal Health, University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus Dresden, TU Dresden, 01307 Dresden, Germany
Vanessa Hoffmeister: Department of Pediatrics, Division of Neonatology & Pediatric Intensive Care, Saxonian Center for Feto/Neonatal Health, University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus Dresden, TU Dresden, 01307 Dresden, Germany
Lars Mense: Department of Pediatrics, Division of Neonatology & Pediatric Intensive Care, Saxonian Center for Feto/Neonatal Health, University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus Dresden, TU Dresden, 01307 Dresden, Germany

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 8, 1-9

Abstract: Early nutrition of newborns significantly influences their long-term health. Mother’s own milk (MOM) feeding lowers the incidence of complications in preterm infants and improves long-term health. Unfortunately, prematurity raises barriers for the initiation of MOM feeding and its continuation. Mother and child are separated in most institutions, sucking and swallowing is immature, and respiratory support hinders breastfeeding. As part of a quality-improvement project, we review the published evidence on risk factors of sustained MOM feeding in preterm neonates. Modifiable factors such as timing of skin-to-skin contact, strategies of milk expression, and infant feeding or mode of delivery have been described. Other factors such as gestational age or neonatal complications are unmodifiable, but their recognition allows targeted interventions to improve MOM feeding. All preterm newborns below 34 weeks gestational age discharged over a two-year period from our large German level III neonatal center were reviewed to compare institutional data with the published evidence regarding MOM feeding at discharge from hospital. Based on local data, a risk score for non-MOM feeding can be calculated that helps to identify mother–baby dyads at risk of non-MOM feeding.

Keywords: neonatal nutrition; breast feeding; nutrition/growth; mother’s own milk (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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