Human Milk Feeding for Septic Newborn Infants Minimizes their Exposure to Ventilation Therapy

We evidently know that human milk feeding restricts lung diseases in vulnerable neonates. A recent study by Moliner-Calderón E. et al. compared the need for mechanical ventilation between human milk-fed neonates with sepsis and formula-fed neonates with sepsis. 

The study recognized all late preterm and full-term infants from a single center with sepsis findings from 2002 to 2017 and recorded data on infant feeding during hospital admission. It performed multivariate logistic regression analyses to assess the impact of feeding type on ventilation support and main neonatal morbidities. 

The study enrolled 322 participants (human milk group = 260; exclusive formula group = 62). Bivariate analysis showed that 72% of human milk-fed neonates do not require oxygen therapy or respiratory support versus 55% of their formula-fed counterparts. Accordingly, only 9.2% of any human milk-fed infants require invasive mechanical ventilation versus 32% of their exclusively formula-fed counterparts. 

The investigators found these results valid even in the multivariate analysis; indeed, any human milk-fed neonates were more likely to require less respiratory support than those exclusively formula-fed. Thus it is assuring that human milk feeding minimizes exposure to mechanical ventilation.

Moliner-Calderón E, Verd S, Leiva A, Ponce-Taylor J, Ginovart G, Moll-McCarthy P, Gelabert C, Figueras-Aloy J. Human Milk Feeding for Septic Newborn Infants Might Minimize Their Exposure to Ventilation Therapy. Children. 2022; 9(10):1450. https://doi.org/10.3390/children9101450