Premature Infants Thrive on Breast Milk
April 14, 2009 by Angela White, J.D., breastfeeding counselor
Filed under advantages of breastfeeding, breast milk, breastfeeding videos, health of the baby, pumping, scientific studies
A groundbreaking program at UC San Diego Medical Center encourages mothers of premature infants to initiate lactation and express breast milk to provide for their preemies who cannot suckle at the breast full-time or even part-time. The CBS interview linked to below reveals fascinating information about the life-saving benefits of breast milk for pre-term babies in the neonatal intensive care unit. What’s even more interesting is that the expressed breast milk provides a benefit not only for the babies but for their mothers as well! Cathy Robinson, the mother of premature twins Naomi and Caldwell, explained:
You can’t be there [physically in the NICU] all the time. So it was my way to be able to be there for them all the time. I’m providing for them.
This sentiment echoes exactly what Australian researcher Linda Sweet found when she interviewed parents for her study “Expressed breast milk as ‘connection’ and its influence on the construction of ‘motherhood’ for mothers of preterm infants: a qualitative study,” published in the International Breastfeeding Journal last December. Sweet concluded:
Providing expressed breast milk offered one way the mothers could be physiologically and emotionally connected to their preterm infant while they were in the constant care of hospital staff. Indeed, breast milk was considered the only way the new mother could connect her body (or part there of) to her preterm baby in hospital.
International Breastfeeding Journal 2008, 3:30.
You can see Cathy Robinson’s story and learn invaluable information from the UC San Diego Medical Center staff on the importance of breast milk for premature infants in this CBS interview. Thanks to Mama Knows Breast for highlighting this video!
I’ve had a premature baby in the NICU, and I found that there wasn’t much support for breastfeeding. Or at least, not good support. I am glad to hear about programs such as this one that are working to change that. I hope it’s indicative of a positive trend, because as they point out premature infants benefit so greatly from breast milk.
While I do not have a child myself I am shocked that a hospital wouldn’t support breastfeeding for premature babies. I have been studying the difference between breastfeeding and formula feeding in my English class and the bennifets for both the mother and child of breastfeeding are overwhelming and I can’t believe a hospital wouldn’t want the best for the baby. For example a baby that is formula fed suffer more illness because the formula doesn’t contain any antibodies against disease or any white cells to attack germs.