Facilitating Colostrum Collection by Hospitalized Women in the Early Postpartum Period for Infant Trophic Feeding and Oral Immune Therapy

Lactation support in neonatal intensive care units in Germany from the mothers’ perspective – a mixed-method study of the current status and needs

“…Interview data indicate that delayed pumping was often due to mothers not being clearly instructed regarding the usage of the electric pump, despite its importance in achieving efficient use [ 33 ]. To enable colostrum to be the first feed for infants, manual milk expression should be combined with pumping after birth [ 14 , 34 ]. Quantitative data show that many mothers were not aware of manual milk expression and its methods.…”

“…In addition, preterm mothers should be instructed in manual milk expression as well as the use of an electric pump [ 12 , 13 ]. Early instruction is particularly important to avoid formula feeding and ensure that colostrum is the first feed that preterm infants receive [ 14 ]. To foster continued feeding with MOM, a milk volume of at least 500ml/day should be reached by day 14 post-partum [ 15 ].…”

Study on improving collection feeding safety and quality of colostrum for very (extremely) low birth weight infants

“…This study was carried out during the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing lessons from the suggestions of many expert groups worldwide on improving the quality of early colostrum feeding and evidence-based practice (10,(12)(13)(14)(15), the nursing process of colostrum feeding was optimized based on the actual situation of the hospital and included five aspectstraining of medical personnel, collection of sticky colostrum, safe transportation of colostrum, standardized detoxification of pumping accessories, and electronic data processing. In the experimental group, family members were allowed to participate in the subsequent collection process, contributing to ensure the continuity of colostrum feeding.…”

“…The current approach is that in addition to early micro tube feeding, medical institutions worldwide have begun to administer infants with colostrum orally. Oropharyngeal administration has become a special approach of colostrum feeding, and is suitable for VLBWI/ELBWI who cannot be fed orally or whose clinical conditions are unstable and has been included in many NICU standard practices (10). More and more studies have explored the impact of this method on the clinical outcome, feeding indicators, immune indicators, types of bacteria in the oropharynx, and detection rate of microbiota of premature infants (11).…”

“…It protects infants from the risk of late onset sepsis, and other complications related to premature delivery ( 2 ). Therefore, colostrum is regarded as “liquid gold” ( 8 ), is as important as drugs and provides great protection to VLBWI/ELBWI ( 9 ). Furthermore, mothers of VLBWI/ELBWI face unique obstacles in expressing breast milk, such as maternal and infant health complications, stress related to the NICU environment, delay in normal physiological adaptation, separation of mother and infant, and delay in lactation, which may hinder them from successfully starting and maintaining breastfeeding ( 8 ).…”