How we can provide vital lactation support for pre-term babies and their mothers?

By An Eerdekens

The first 1,000 days of a human life are the foundation for a healthy life in the longer term. But what if those first 1,000 days are complicated and your life starts earlier than outside the womb? After birth, human milk plays a key role in the long-term health benefits for the newborn. Moreover, when you come into the world prematurely, human milk can play a preventive role in the development of serious intestinal infections. So it is very important for mothers who give birth prematurely to be able to provide their milk for their babies. But for premature mothers, providing that own milk for their baby is just an extra challenge. They are separated from their baby, have to pump their milk, are often sick themselves, experience a lot of stress, ... All factors that put a brake on their milk production.

It is therefore crucial that these preterm mother-child dyads are guided as professionally as possible. And we all have a responsibility in this as a society. It is up to policymakers to create a human milk -friendly society. Sufficient maternity rest, legalizing the International Code of Breastmilk Substitutes, rewarding Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative-labelled hospitals, adequate funding for health care are examples. At the hospital level, it is important to provide sufficient staff for the intensive care of preterm mother-child dyads, to make time and budgetary space for specialized training of health care staff, to choose, when designing a neonatal unit, to facilitate proximity between parents and baby as much as possible, e.g. by enabling rooming-in 24/7. By taking on a coaching role, health care workers can become partners with parents in the care of their child. This again requires the necessary training and guidance. There is also the mother's environment, which through proper education, can take on a supportive role, but is also influenced by cultural and social factors. As is the case with the mother herself. Finally, there is the preterm newborn, about whom it is all about, but for whom it is sometimes difficult to achieve breastfeeding due to his additional medical conditions linked to prematurity. All these factors are inextricably linked. It is by creating awareness and spreading sufficient knowledge within all ranks, that a stone can be moved in the river to increase the chances of breastfeeding success for every preterm newborn. This is how we as a society optimize the first 1,000 days for every newcomer to our world.

Article details

Barriers and Facilitators in Lactation Support for the Preterm Mother–Infant Dyad: An Integrated Approach
An Eerdekens
DOI: 10.1177/08903344241273450
First published: September 25, 2024
Journal of Human Lactation

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