LivingSkin-to-skin contact is key to early initiation of breastfeeding...
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Skin-to-skin contact is key to early initiation of breastfeeding in premature babies

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The benefits of breastfeeding for children are obvious. Even more so for preterm babies, due to its protective capacity against infections such as septicemia.

Some recommended practices to achieve the early initiation of breast milk feeding in premature babies and facilitate their discharge from the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) include promoting skin-to-skin contact and double pumping , among other possibilities.

Ideas to overcome initial problems

Seeing your newborn in an incubator, so small and defenseless, undermines any mother. This is why moms need more expert support to start breastfeeding as soon as possible.

In Spain, about 28,000 babies are born before week 37. Of these, 70% of these are late preterm (born between week 34 and 36.6) and do not usually have different difficulties than any other newborn to feed from his mother’s breast.

However, the most immature (born before 30-34 weeks of gestational age) need time to develop their muscles, as well as to be able to coordinate sucking, swallowing and breathing during lactation. This can cause them to have to feed themselves through a tube that goes from the mouth or from the nose to the stomach, called a nasogastric tube.

The transition from catheter to oral is a challenge for mothers and preterm infants and an important criterion for discharge from most NICUs.

Coinciding with World Prematurity Day, on November 17, Medela, gives us some tips so that preterm newborns can benefit from all the properties of breast milk, essential to reduce infections, improve their long-term health and, even get the baby to leave the hospital as soon as possible.

For those premature infants who have greater difficulties in initiating breastfeeding , among other things, due to their neurological and gastrointestinal immaturity , Medela points out a series of tools that help facilitate early breastfeeding:

  • Skin-to-skin contact: helps to increase the production and prolongation of lactation.

  • Double extraction. Several studies show that expressing milk from both breasts at the same time is more effective and efficient than expressing one by one, since it allows the extraction of a greater percentage of the available milk and a greater volume of milk with a higher fat content. It is advisable to do it at least eight times a day.

  • Extraction at the bedside: or in a more relaxed setting, reduces maternal stress.

  • Breast sucking , even if the milk is not for your baby. It is believed to stimulate the release of oxytocin and prolactin and improve milk production.

  • Breast massage during extraction: it is associated with an increase in the amount of milk and its caloric content.

Skin to skin, beneficial for premature babies and their mothers

A premature baby needs to feel loved , protected, to be able to hear his mother’s familiar voice and her heartbeat thanks to skin-to-skin contact. Also, noticing that they touch it helps you with better brain development.

That is why it is essential that his parents can be with him 24 hours a day, even in the NICU. But although accompaniment is a fundamental right of hospitalized children, there are hospitals that limit this right, make breastfeeding difficult and force parents to return home due to strict visiting hours.

And it is that the kangaroo method is also related to greater milk production and an earlier initiation of lactation in mothers, as well as an improvement in the physiological stability of premature infants.

In addition, breastfeeding offers anti-stress benefits for the mother. With each feeding, mothers experience a reduction in blood pressure and cortisol levels, as well as a lower increase in this hormone in response to physical stress, compared to mothers who are bottle-fed.

Breast milk, even more valuable for the premature

Premature babies, due to their shorter stay in the womb, may be more vulnerable to diseases and infections. Hence, the properties of breast milk are essential for its development and maturation. Furthermore, breast milk from mothers who have given birth to babies born prematurely has a different composition than from mothers who give birth to full-term babies: it is richer in protein and defense elements (such as immunoglobulia A or lactoferrin).

Among the countless benefits of breastfeeding for the preterm baby:

  • Helps retinopathy of prematurity and bronchopulmonary dysplasia, as it contains important protective agents.

  • Lowers the risk of serious infections like septicemia. For every 10 ml of breast milk per day / kg of baby’s weight, the risk of septicemia is reduced by 19%.

  • It reduces the chances of a premature baby suffering from necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) by 10 times compared to formula milk.

  • They are usually discharged from the hospital two weeks earlier than formula fed.

  • The probability of having to be re-admitted in the first year drops by 6%.

In addition, in the long term, studies show that newborns with low birth weight who were breastfed in the NICU have up to five points higher IQ than those who did not.

Via | Medela

Photos | iStock

In Babies and More | Premature births were reduced during the coronavirus pandemic, practicing kangaroo care in babies born with low birth weight would help reduce the risk of mortality by up to 30%

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