Preterm infants discharged from the NICU require ongoing breastfeeding support after hospital discharge.
Excerpts from the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine Protocol #12. "Transitioning the Breastfeeding Preterm Infant from the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit to Home" reinforce the important role of early breastfeeding support after NICU discharge, when families are seeing their primary care provider:
- “Nutrition monitoring as early as possible, preferably within 72 hours.”
- “Take detailed feeding history… details on providing expressed human milk versus direct breastfeeding, a full pumping history, and the use of fortified human milk or formula. Ask the mother how she is coping with caring for the infant and discuss revising the feeding plan if not sustainable…”
- “Observation of a feeding”
- “Weekly following-up until the infant has demonstrated appropriate growth on the feeding plan”
- “Ideally, all mothers discharged from the NICU with a breastfeeding or human milk feeding infant should have follow-up examinations with a trained, skilled lactation professional within 2 to 3 days after discharge for ongoing support and troubleshooting”
All of these excerpts highlight yet another opportunity for integrated primary care/lactation consultant visits to improve access to needed breastfeeding support.
Protocol #12 makes clear that team-based care is critical support infrastructure for our families of preterm infants. That's why we've put together a video, handouts, and a space for virtual community support toward the development of Team-Based Care Lactation Care in primary care offices.
CLICK HERE for the Research on Team-Based Care
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