AUTHOR=Wang Min , Gong Xiaohui , Yu Lianhu , Song Feifei , Li Dan , Fan Qiaoling , Zhang Ting , Yan Xueming TITLE=Early enteral nutrition with exclusive donor milk instead of formula milk affects the time of full enteral feeding for very low birth weight infants JOURNAL=Frontiers in Nutrition VOLUME=11 YEAR=2024 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/nutrition/articles/10.3389/fnut.2024.1345768 DOI=10.3389/fnut.2024.1345768 ISSN=2296-861X ABSTRACT=

This study investigated the effects of exclusive donor milk or formula in the first 7 days after birth, on the time to full enteral feeding, growth, and morbidity of adverse events related to premature infants. This was a retrospective study carried out from July 2014 to December 2019 at the Department of Neonatology of Shanghai Children’s Hospital. All infants with a birth weight < 1,500 g and a gestational age ≤ 32 who received exclusive donor milk or formula in the first 7 days after birth were included in this study. The time to full enteral feeding (defined as 150 mL/kg) in the donor milk group was significantly shorter than in the formula group (18 vs. 22 days, p = 0.01). Donated breast milk was also associated with a lower incidence of NEC (4.4 vs. 7%, p < 0.01), ROP (3.8 vs. 13.2%, p < 0.01), and culture-confirmed sepsis (11 vs. 22.6%, p < 0.01). Using donated breast milk instead of current formula milk for early enteral nutrition can shorten the time to full enteral feeding and reduce the incidence of NEC, ROP, and sepsis.