Laktasjon hos mødre til premature barn — Forekomst ved forskjellige tidspunkter

Abstract

Aim:

Prevalence of lactation in percent was studied in mothers of preterm infants at our NICU (comparable to level III nurseries) at the National Hospital in Oslo, Norway.

Definition of lactation:

Feeding at breast (partial or total), and/or feeding mother's expressed milk.

Subjects:

108 mothers were included, and 59.3% had Caesarian Section. Their infants stayed median 46.5 days at the hospital, the gestational age at birth was median 30.5 weeks, and the birth weight was median 1447.5 g. Sixty eight percent of the infants needed oxygen supply for median 12 days, 50% of the infants needed ventilator-connection for median 5.5 days, and 27.7% of the infants had a birth-weight of 1000 g or below.

Methods:

Structured interview with open-ended questions was used at the infants' discharge. The mothers were asked following questions: Do you have breastmilk for your baby? If not, how long did you have breastmilk? Phone calls were used later to those mothers who still lactated at their infant's discharge.

Findings/Conclusion:

Prevalence of lactation at 1 month (30 days) post birth was 84,3%. Lactation stopped within 1 month post birth for 15.7% (17/108) of the mothers. In the latter group the infants were small at birth, mean birth weight was 1179.2 g, mean gestation weeks were 28.5, and as many mothers as 58.8% smoked after birth (in the whole sample 29.9% of the mothers smoked). Continued prevalence of lactation after birth was at 2 months: 68.5%, at 3 months: 58.3%, at 4 months: 52.7%, at 5 months: 48.1%, at 6 months: 37.9%, at 7 months: 34,2%, at 8 months: 30.5%, at 9 months: 28.7%, at 10 months: 21.2%, and at 11 months: 19.4% (figure 1). At 12 months post birth 14.8% of all mothers lactated, and 9.2% of the mothers continued lactation. At the infants' discharge 65.7% (71/108) of the mothers lactated, and 64.8% (70/108) of the mothers had enough milk. At discharge 22.5% of the lactating mothers only breastfed their babies (n= 71), 59.2% breastfed + pumped + fed by bottle, 16.9% only pumped + fed by bottle, and 1.4% supplied some formula in addition to breastfeeding. Lactation stopped before the infants sucked their mothers' breast nipple in 19.4% (21/108) of the cases. In this group the infants were very small at birth: median birth weight 870 g and median gestational age 26 weeks. In this subgroup as many mothers as 61.9% smoked after birth (tables and figure in English).