Background: Previous low human milk feeding rates in Chinese neonatal intensive care units of preterm infants were reported. There are no nationwide data on these.
Research aims: To investigate the current status of human milk feeding for preterm infants in Chinese units and provide baseline data for future research.
Methods: A secondary data analysis was conducted from a previously established clinical database including 25 Chinese neonatal intensive care units. All infants born <34 weeks gestation and admitted to participating units from May 2015 to April 2018 were enrolled. Variables analyzed were infant data collected and the human milk feeding practices at participating units were surveyed.
Results: A total of 24,113 infants were included. The overall and exclusive human milk feeding rates were 58.2% and 18.8%, respectively, which increased significantly during study years. We found that rates of human milk feeding decreased with increase in gestational age and birth weight. There was significant variation in human milk feeding rates among units. Most participating Chinese neonatal intensive care units have taken measures to improve the rates of human milk feeding.
Conclusions: The human milk feeding rates in Chinese neonatal intensive care units have continued to increase in the past 3 years, but there was significant variation among them. More efforts are needed to further increase the human milk feeding rates in China.
Trial registration: This study was registered NCT02600195 with clinicaltrials.gov on November 9, 2015.
Keywords: breastfeeding; human milk; prematurity.