Efficacy and safety of breast milk eye drops in infants with eye discharge.

AIM: Breast milk (BM) contains various protective components, such as immunoglobulins, lactoferrin, lysozyme, oligosaccharides and immune cell subsets. We evaluated the effectiveness of BM eye drops in infants with eye discharge in a randomised controlled study. METHODS: Subjects were breastfed infants aged ≤180 days, with eye discharge. We randomly assigned patients to receive eye drops of BM or sodium azulene sulphonate hydrate 0.02% ophthalmic solution (OS). The patients received drop of BM or OS for 7 days. Improvement score of eye discharge in the groups was compared using a non-inferiority test. RESULTS: The number of patients improved eye discharge was 119/155 (76.8%) and 119/157 (75.8%) in BM and OS groups, respectively. There were no significant differences between groups. The improvement score in eye discharge was 1.76 ± 0.91 in the BM group and 1.71 ± 0.96 in the OS group. The BM group was considered non-inferior to the OS group. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated that BM is no less effective than OS in infants with eye discharge aged ≤6 months. The results suggested that the use of breast milk as eye drops could be considered as a first-line treatment for infants aged ≤6 months with eye discharge.

Atypical social development in neonatal intensive care unit survivors at 12 months.

BACKGROUND: Owing to advances in neonatal intensive care, many infants who are hospitalized in neonatal intensive care units (NICU) can survive and grow, and are referred to as NICU survivors. However, social development in NICU survivors has not been fully explored. METHODS: To examine the social development of NICU survivors, a questionnaire consisting of the Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (M-CHAT) was used. The M-CHAT was completed by the parents of either NICU survivors (n= 117) or normally delivered children (control group, n= 112) during their regular medical checkups at a corrected age of 12 months. RESULTS: Ninety percent of NICU survivors and 63% of control children did not pass the M-CHAT screen. As it was originally designed for children aged 18-30 months, failed M-CHAT items could have been due to developmental issues and not due to autistic spectrum disorders. However, there was a significant difference in the total number of items failed between the two groups. In particular, many NICU survivors did not pass on M-CHAT items, such as oversensitivity to noise, unusual finger movements, and attempts to attract attention. Concerning perinatal complications, infants with low birthweight and/or the need for respiratory support tended to have a higher number of failures on all M-CHAT items. CONCLUSIONS: NICU survivors may have distinct developmental patterns of social communication, and should be followed up for assessment of social skills and neurological development.