Promoting Human Milk and Breastfeeding for the Very Low Birth Weight Infant.

Provision of mother's own milk for hospitalized very low birth weight (VLBW) (≤1500 g) infants in the NICU provides short- and long-term health benefits. Mother's own milk, appropriately fortified, is the optimal nutrition source for VLBW infants. Every mother should receive information about the critical importance of mother's own milk to the health of a VLBW infant.

Short-Term Outcomes following Standardized Admission of Late Preterm Infants to Family-Centered Care.

Objective: The study compares the short-term outcomes of late preterm infants (LPI) at an academic center in San Diego, California after a change in protocol that eliminated a previously mandatory 12-hour neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) observation period after birth.

Study Design: This is a retrospective observational study examining all LPI born with gestational age 35 to 36 weeks between October 1, 2016 and October 31, 2017. A total of 189 infants were included in the review.

Challenges in the practice of human milk nutrition in the neonatal intensive care unit.

The use of human milk for preterm infants has increased over the past decade reflecting an improved awareness of the benefits of human milk. Inherent in this paradigm shift is the recognition that human milk is a living tissue; full of immune cells, probiotics and hundreds of compounds that confer bioactivity and immune protective properties. Together these factors deliver a powerful effect in reducing clinical morbidities such as necrotizing enterocolitis and sepsis in the preterm infant.

Pooling expressed breastmilk to provide a consistent feeding composition for premature infants.

Objective: We hypothesized that pooling a mother's expressed breastmilk for 24 hours compared with individual pump session collection of milk would provide a more consistent caloric product without increasing bacterial contamination.

Study Design: We investigated 24-hour pooled breastmilk collection by enrolling 19 mothers who were expressing milk for their infants. Mothers followed a standardized milk collection protocol for 4 study days: daily milk was pooled in a sterile 1-L bottle on Day 1, and on Day 2 milk was aliquoted for each pump session into a sterile 120-mL container.

Transmission of meropenem in breast milk.

A case is presented of a breast-feeding mother receiving meropenem treatment for a postpartum urinary tract infection caused by extended-spectrum beta-lactamase producing Escherichia coli. Five milk samples were collected in a 48-hour period during meropenem therapy. The average and maximum meropenem concentrations in milk were 0.

Breast milk hydrocodone and hydromorphone levels in mothers using hydrocodone for postpartum pain.

Objective: To estimate the extent of passage of hydrocodone and its active metabolite, hydromorphone, into breast milk.

Methods: This is a pharmacokinetic study of 30 postpartum women receiving hydrocodone bitartrate for postpartum pain in the inpatient setting. Mothers donated timed breast milk samples for the analysis of hydrocodone and hydromorphone.