New research published in The Journal of Pediatrics has confirmed that breast milk is the essential and preferred source of nutrition for vulnerable premature and low birth weight babies. This research focused on the effects of breast milk ingestion by infants with extremely low birth weight in the NICU. Researchers evaluated data of a total of 593 babies who ingested breast milk during the neonatal hospitalization, and 180 who ingested no breastmilk.  Neurological development and growth patterns of the babies were recorded and studied comparing the amount of breast milk that the child received and the noted changes.

 
Researchers evaluated the children again at 30 months and concluded that children who were breastfed had  higher Bailey Mental Developmental Index scores, higher Bailey Behavior score percentiles for emotional regulation, and fewer re-hospitalizations.  These results demonstrated that …“for every 10 ml/kg per day increase in breast milk, the Mental Developmental Index increased by 0.59 points, the Psychomotor Developmental Index by 0.56 points, and the total behavior percentile score by 0.99 points, and the risk of rehospitalization between discharge and 30 months decreased by 5%”.   According to this fascinating new research it is imperative that breast milk be made available to all premature and low birth weight infants after birth and continued for the health of the child.