Abstract
Background: Although breastfeeding has many benefits the incidence and duration of breastfeeding in preterm infants admitted to neonatal intensive care is less than that of full-term infants (32-46% of premature infants discharged home fully or partly breastfeeding compared to 71% of term infants in the UK). Many parents do not wish their infants to have exposure to alternative methods of feeding as they fear this may affect rates of breastfeeding.
Aim: To assess breastfeeding rates and to establish if there is a link with alternative feeding methods used within neonatal services and poor breastfeeding outcomes.
Method: Prospective study of infants requiring admission to neonatal services. Data were collected on gestation, birth weight, diagnosis, intravenous fluids, enteral nutrition and feeding method 6 weeks post discharge.
Results: 100 infants were included: 64 preterm and 36 term, 54%< 2.5 kg and 24% < 1.5 kg. 52% of infants had received bottle feeds. Bottle feeding did not affect success of breastfeeding. Breastfeeding was fully established in 48% of infants at discharge. 61% of infants were fully or partially breastfed at 6 weeks of age. Lack of advice/ support was implicated in 11-12% of breastfeeding discontinuation.
Conclusions: Breastfeeding rates are low but comparable to hospital overall rates despite initial respiratory distress in 45%, hypoglycaemia in 34% and requirement for intravenous fluids in 65%. Early bottle feeding to wean from intravenous fluids did not decrease the incidence of breastfeeding at discharge or 6 weeks of age.
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Sotiridou, E., Harris, L., Bhaskar, M. et al. 434 Comparable Breastfeeding Rates are Achievable in a High Risk Population. Pediatr Res 68 (Suppl 1), 223 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-201011001-00434
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-201011001-00434