Association between maternal stress and premature milk cortisol, milk IgA, and infant health: a cohort study.

Background: Maternal stress is pervasive in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Maternal stress is associated with changes in human milk (HM) immunomodulatory agents, which may impact neonatal health. We sought to determine the association between maternal stress, HM immunoglobulin A (IgA) and cortisol, and to assess how these milk components correlate with infant immune and neurodevelopmental outcomes.