Aim: This study evaluated the impact of an exclusive human milk diet to nourish extremely low birth weight infants in the neonatal intensive care unit.
Materials and methods: This multicenter pre-post retrospective study included all inborn infants <1,000 g admitted to four Level IV neonatal intensive care units either before or after implementing a donor human milk policy. The feeding protocol was unchanged in both periods. Collected data included maternal/infant demographics, infant clinical data, and enteral intake as mother's own milk, donor milk, and formula.
Results: Two hundred one infants were enrolled. Infant growth and other clinical outcomes were similar in both groups. Exposure to mother's own milk at discharge was not different. Median time in oxygen and duration of mechanical ventilation were significantly higher among formula-fed infants (63 versus 192 hours [p=0.046] and 24 versus 60 hours [p=0.016], respectively).
Conclusions: Our results add evidence supporting the safety of donor milk. This study also found an association between exposure to formula in preterm infants and the requirement for respiratory support, a finding that warrants further investigation.