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Outcomes of human milk-fed premature infants
1Division of Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine, Cohen Children's Medical Center of New York at North Shore, North Shore University Hospital, Manhasset, NY 11030, USA. schanler@nshs.edu
Insights
Feeding premature infants mother's own milk offers significant health benefits, including improved host defense, development, and reduced illness. This promotes better long-term health outcomes and lower risks of metabolic syndrome compared to formula.
Area of Science:
- Neonatalogy
- Pediatrics
- Human Milk Research
Background:
- Premature infants face unique health challenges, including compromised host defense and developmental risks.
- Mother's own milk is recognized for its potential to mitigate some of these challenges.
- Existing research suggests benefits of human milk for vulnerable infant populations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To summarize the benefits of feeding premature infants mother's own milk.
- To highlight the impact on infant host defense, development, and long-term health.
- To compare human milk feeding to infant formula feeding in premature infants.
Main Methods:
- Review of descriptive and quasi-randomized studies over the past 25 years.
- Analysis of data on infection-related morbidity, rehospitalization rates, and neurodevelopmental outcomes.
- Examination of long-term effects on body composition and metabolic syndrome development.
Main Results:
- Human milk feeding is associated with enhanced infant host defense, gastrointestinal maturation, and nutritional status.
- Reduced infection-related morbidity and lower rehospitalization rates were observed in human milk-fed premature infants.
- Positive neurodevelopmental outcomes, including improved IQ and motor skills, and reduced risk of metabolic syndrome were linked to mother's own milk.
Conclusions:
- Mother's own milk provides significant benefits for premature infants, impacting immediate health and long-term development.
- Human milk feeding supports crucial aspects of infant maturation and may offer protection against future metabolic issues.
- The evidence strongly supports the use of mother's own milk for premature infants in neonatal intensive care settings.
Abstract:
Significant benefits to infant host defense, sensory-neural development, gastrointestinal maturation, and some aspects of nutritional status are observed when premature infants are fed their mothers' own milk. A reduction in infection-related morbidity in human milk-fed premature infants has been reported in nearly a dozen descriptive, and a few quasi-randomized, studies in the past 25 years. Human milk-fed infants also have decreased rates of rehospitalization for illness after discharge. Studies on neurodevelopmental outcomes have reported significantly positive effects for human milk intake in the neonatal period and long-term mental and motor development, intelligence quotient, and visual acuity through adolescence. Body composition in adolescence also is associated with human milk intake in the neonatal intensive care unit. Finally, human milk intake is less associated with the development of the metabolic syndrome than infant formula feeding.
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