Improvement of Expressed Breast Milk in Mothers of Preterm Infants by Recording Breast Milk Pumping Diaries in a Neonatal Center in China

Objectives

Because inadequate expression of human milk (EBM) in mothers of hospitalized infants were noticed in a neonatal center of our hospital, family education program was carried out to increase the EBM.

Methods

A breast milk pumping diary was introduced to the mothers with preterm infant(s) admitted in the NICU. The ratios of EBM (days of EBM to NICU/hospitalized days), breast milk feeding (BMF) (days of infants fed with exclusive human milk/hospitalized days), mixed feeding (MF) (days of infants fed with partial breast milk and partial formula/hospitalized days), and formula feeding (FF) (days of infants fed with preterm formula/hospitalized days) were evaluated.

Results

During January to April, 2014, the ratios of EBM to the NICU, BMF, MF and FF were 28.11%, 6.6%, 32.8% and 60.6%, respectively. After the introduction of breast milk pumping diary to the mothers from May 2014, the ratio of EBM to the NICU increased significantly to 53.3% (p<0.01) within the following eight months. Both the ratios of BMF and MF also rose to 23.8% and MF 55.3%, respectively. Consequently, the ratio of FF was reduced to 20.9%. Exclusive breast milk feeding also significantly reduce the duration of nil per oral (NPO) of the very low birth weight infants during hospital stay as compared to those fed with mixed feeding and formula feeding.

Conclusion

The introduction of a breast milk pumping diary was associated with a significant increase in the intake of EBM of the hospitalized preterm newborns.