Biological, nutritional and clinical aspects of feeding preterm infants with human milk.

Benefits of breastfeeding are widely recognized, during the last decades human milk has been identified as the normative standard for infant feeding and nutrition. Recent evidence focused on specific bioactive and immunomodulatory factors, such as oligosaccharides, lactose, glycosaminoglycans of human milk and the variability of their concentrations during lactation in both term and preterm milk. Human milk should be fortified with proteins, minerals and vitamins to ensure optimal nutrient intake for preterm VLBWI infants. Best fortification strategies as well as the optimal composition of fortifiers are still object of research. Short and long-term clinical, metabolic, immunologic and neurodevelopmental advantages of breastfeeding ndividualizes fortification - particulary adjustable fortification- has proven to be effective when compared to formula are well documented. Moreover several non-experimental studies observed that clinical feeding tolerance is improved and the attainment of full enteral feeding is quicker by a diet of human milk. In addition, benefits of breastfeeding on psychological and relational aspects have to be considered. Mother’s own milk remains the first choice for all neonates, when it is not available or not sufficient despite significant lactation support, donor milk represents the second best alternative and although some nutritional elements are inactivated by the pasteurization process, it still has documented advantages compared to formula.

Relationship between sleep/wakefulness and gastroesophageal reflux in symptomatic newborns.

The state of sleep/wakefulness is well known to influence esophageal acid exposure and the number of acid refluxes whereas it is uncertain whether the same is true of the non-acid refluxes that predominate in the newborns. To investigate the relationship between sleep/wakefulness and refluxes 45 newborns with gastroesophageal reflux symptoms were studied with combined multichannel intraluminal impedance and pH monitoring. We found that sleep/wakefulness influenced acid and weakly acidic reflux frequency (awake 2.6+/-0.8; asleep 2.1+/-1.1; p=0.006). A negative correlation was found between sleepness periods and the mean reflux duration for both acid (R=0.55;p < 0.001) and weackly acidic (R=0.51;p < 0.001) refluxes. This finding may raise some concerns about the over-prescription of antacid drugs in newborns.

Do recommended protein intakes improve neurodevelopment in extremely preterm babies?

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether achieving recommended protein intakes for extremely low birthweight (ELBW; birth weight <1000 g) babies, resulting in better growth, improves neurodevelopmental outcomes. DESIGN: A prospective cohort study of ELBW babies before and after the introduction of a new nutritional policy designed to meet international consensus protein recommendations. Forty-five children born 'before' and 42 born 'after' the policy change were assessed at 2 years' corrected age (CA). Associations between nutritional intakes, growth and neurodevelopmental outcome (Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development, Third edition (Bayley-III), motor and sensory impairment) were assessed using univariate and multivariate analyses. RESULTS: Bayley-III cognitive (mean (SD) 96 (12) vs 96 (15)), motor (96 (13) vs 95 (15)) or language scores (89 (11) vs 91 (17)) were not different between the 'before' and 'after' cohorts. In the 'before' cohort, motor scores were positively associated with enteral nutrition intakes and growth velocity. Neither were sensory impairments different between groups (visual impairment 4 vs 2, hearing impairment 2 vs 0) nor was the gross motor function classification score (any cerebral palsy 2 vs 1). CONCLUSIONS: In this prospective cohort study, increasing intravenous and enteral protein intakes to recommended levels in the first month after birth was not associated with improved cognitive, language or motor scores or decreased sensory impairments at 2 years' CA despite significantly improved early growth and reduced postnatal faltering growth. Appropriate randomised controlled trials are needed to answer definitively whether higher early protein intakes improve neurodevelopmental outcome in this population.

Is breastfeeding duration influenced by maternal attitude and knowledge? A longitudinal study during the first year of life.

OBJECTIVE: To discuss the duration and types of breastfeeding and to identify the factors associated with the early introduction of formula milk. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This longitudinal study was conducted in the largest birthing centre of Turin. 562 mother-infant pairs were selected randomly and enrolled from among all the births that occurred in our Hospital from January to December 2009. Data was collected by means of a questionnaire filled out by the researcher during a face-to-face interview at mother's bed side during her hospital stay. This questionnaire included data regarding maternal socio-demographic, biomedical and hospital-related characteristics and some questions regarding family support, maternal attitude and current knowledge on breastfeeding. Mothers were interviewed by telephone at 1, 3, 6 and 12 months postpartum using the 24-h recall technique and definitions recommended by the WHO to investigate the type of breastfeeding adopted. RESULTS: At the age of 6 months only 8.9% of the infants involved were still exclusively breastfed and 44.3% had discontinued breastfeeding. By the age of 12 months 25.3% of infants were still receiving some breast milk. The main factors that had a negative impact on the duration of breastfeeding included maternal smoking habits, early pacifier introduction and the maternal infant feeding attitude. CONCLUSIONS: The rate of initiation and overall duration of breastfeeding reached the WHO objectives, but exclusive breastfeeding duration has still not reached satisfactory levels at 6 months. Given that the maternal infant feeding attitude is the only factor independently related to breastfeeding duration for the whole first year of life, reliable measures of maternal attitude could be used as a first step in targeting and assessing interventions that promote and sustain breastfeeding.

Communicative strategies in a neonatal intensive care unit.

Counseling is a professional intervention based on skills to communicate and to build relationships. The project 'Not alone', related to counseling at our Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, is aimed to let counseling become a 'shared culture' for all the care givers. The first essential aspect is to form the ability of counseling through periodic courses for all professionals of the department (physicians, nurses, and physiotherapists). In our department, a professional counselor is present assisting the medical staff in direct counseling. The counselor's intervention allows a better parent orientation in the situation. A more effective sharing of these rules also facilitates the communication among parents and medical staff. Periodic meetings are established among the medical staff, in which the professional counselor discusses difficult situations to share possible communicative strategies. We wanted to have not only a common communicative style, but also common subjects, independent from the characteristics of each of us. Individuals are often faced with diverse situations. For every setting that we more frequently face in communication (for example the first interview with a parent of a very preterm infant) we have built an 'algorithm' that follows a pattern: (1) information always given; (2) frequent questions from parents; and (3) frequent difficulties in the communication. We also need to record important moments, for instance the 'case history of the communication': in fact it would be desirable to have the case history, a sheet dedicated to important communications that are absolutely to be shared with other professionals.