'Mother's own milk' for premature infants: Minority mothers need effective strategies
2021-03-24
(Press-News.org) March 24, 2021 - For premature infants who can't breastfeed on their own, "mother's own milk" (MOM) is by far the best nutrition. There's an urgent need for effective ways to increase the relatively low rates of MOM feeding for preterm infants born to Black and Hispanic mothers. But so far, research has offered little or no specific guidance, concludes an evidence-based review in Advances in Neonatal Care, official journal of the National Association of Neonatal Nurses. The journal is published in the Lippincott portfolio by Wolters Kluwer.
Until studies of targeted, culturally appropriate interventions are performed, available evidence points to some promising approaches to overcoming obstacles and facilitating MOM feedings for premature infants of Black or Hispanic mothers, according to the review by Diana Cartagena, PhD, RN, CPNP, of Old Dominion University, Virginia Beach, Va., and colleagues.
No studies specifically designed to encourage MOM feedings for Black or Hispanic preterm infants
Provided primarily by expressing (pumping) the mother's breast milk, MOM feedings have critical benefits for preterm infants - ranging from a lower risk of prematurity-related complications to fewer neurodevelopmental difficulties and disabilities later in childhood. The higher the "dose" of breast milk, the better the outcomes.
Minority mothers of premature infants may face special challenges in providing MOM feedings. "In the United States, Hispanic and Black preterm infants are less likely than their white counterparts to receive feedings consisting of MOM," Dr. Cartagena and coauthors write. They performed a comprehensive review of the past decade of research, looking for evidence-based strategies to encourage and improve MOM feedings to this group of infants.
However, the initial search identified "zero articles" - not a single study evaluating specific programs designed to promote MOM feedings in Black or Hispanic preterm infants. "All current strategies to encourage and improve breast milk expression and feeding in minority mothers are based on programs developed and tested mainly in White mothers," Dr. Cartagena comments.
Thus the researchers broadened their search for promising approaches to decreasing racial/ethnic disparities in breast milk expression - focusing on studies that included at least 30 percent Black or Hispanic mothers. Based on ten such studies, Dr. Cartagena and colleagues make some recommendations to improve MOM feedings, including:
Providing a welcoming, family-centered neonatal ICU environment. Professional lactation support is essential for all mothers of premature infants, including early help with breast milk expression and access to breast pumps and supplies. Giving mothers the opportunity to provide skin-to-skin care for their babies is a promising approach to establishing and maintaining the milk supply.
Addressing language and cultural barriers. For Hispanic mothers, having translators and providing educational materials in the mother's native language are important strategies to reduce disparities. In one study, providing lactation support from bilingual counselors increased MOM feeding at discharge. In another study, Black women who set an initial goal to provide any breast milk for their premature infant were more likely to provide MOM after leaving the hospital.
Providing social and emotional support. Black women may lack breastfeeding role models and experience; their own mothers (the baby's grandmother) may be an especially important source of support. For younger mothers, social media and even mobile apps may be appealing options. Emotional and technical support from hospital staff may help to overcome barriers to providing MOM, such as obtaining and learning to use a breast pump or challenges in the home environment.
"Limited evidence suggests that variation in neonatal ICU breastfeeding support practices may explain (in part), variation in disparities and supports further research in this area," Dr. Cartagena and colleagues write. They emphasize the need for rigorous, well-designed studies "to evaluate the effectiveness of targeted and culturally sensitive lactation support interventions in Hispanic and Black mothers."
Click here to read "Strategies to Improve Mother's Own Milk Expression in Black and Hispanic Mothers of Premature Infants."
DOI: 10.1097/ANC.0000000000000866
INFORMATION:
About Advances in Neonatal Care
Advances in Neonatal Care takes a unique and dynamic approach to the original research and clinical practice articles it publishes. Addressing the practice challenges faced every day--caring for the 40,000-plus low-birth-weight infants in Level II and Level III NICUs each year--the journal promotes evidence-based care and improved outcomes for the tiniest patients and their families. Peer-reviewed editorial includes unique and detailed visual and teaching aids, such as Family Teaching Toolbox, Research to Practice, Cultivating Clinical Expertise, and Online Features.
About the National Association of Neonatal Nurses
The National Association of Neonatal Nurses (NANN) is the longest established professional voice that supports the professional needs of neonatal nurses throughout their careers through excellence in practice, education, research and professional development. NANN is your neonatal connection to the strongest and most vibrant community of neonatal nurses.
About Wolters Kluwer
Wolters Kluwer (WKL) is a global leader in professional information, software solutions, and services for the clinicians, nurses, accountants, lawyers, and tax, finance, audit, risk, compliance, and regulatory sectors. We help our customers make critical decisions every day by providing expert solutions that combine deep domain knowledge with advanced technology and services.
Wolters Kluwer reported 2019 annual revenues of €4.6 billion. The group serves customers in over 180 countries, maintains operations in over 40 countries, and employs approximately 19,000 people worldwide. The company is headquartered in Alphen aan den Rijn, the Netherlands.
Wolters Kluwer provides trusted clinical technology and evidence-based solutions that engage clinicians, patients, researchers and students with advanced clinical decision support, learning and research and clinical intelligence. For more information about our solutions, visit https://www.wolterskluwer.com/en/health and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter @WKHealth.
For more information, visit http://www.wolterskluwer.com, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube.
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
2021-03-24
COLUMBIA, Mo. - Nearly 2,000 active landfills are spread across the U.S., with the majority of garbage discarded by homes and businesses finding its way to a landfill. The resulting chemicals and toxins that build up at these sites can then leach into soil and groundwater, and this "leachate" can present serious hazards to the environment and to the people who live nearby.
To help environmental agencies battle the toxic threats posed by landfills, researchers at the University of Missouri -- in partnership with the USDA Forest Service -- have developed a system ...
2021-03-24
HOUSTON - (Mar 24, 2021) -The mammalian center for learning and memory, hippocampus, has a remarkable capacity to generate new neurons throughout life. Newborn neurons are produced by neural stem cells (NSCs) and they are crucial for forming neural circuits required for learning and memory, and mood control. During aging, the number of NSCs declines, leading to decreased neurogenesis and age-associated cognitive decline, anxiety, and depression. Thus, identifying the core molecular machinery responsible for NSC preservation is of fundamental importance if we are to use neurogenesis to halt or reverse hippocampal age-related pathology.
While there are increasing number of tools available to study NSCs and neurogenesis in mouse models, one of the major ...
2021-03-24
Sickle cell disease is the most prevalent inherited blood disorder in the world, affecting 70,000 to 100,000 Americans. However, it is considered an orphan disease, meaning it impacts less than 200,000 people nationally, and is therefore underrepresented in therapeutic research.
A team led by Abhishek Jain from the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Texas A&M University is working to address this disease.
"I'm trying to create these new types of disease models that can impact health care, with the long-term goal of emphasizing on applying these tools ...
2021-03-24
>
CATONSVILLE, MD, March 24, 2021 - COVID-19 has been shown to spread on airplanes by infected passengers, so minimizing the risk of secondary infections aboard aircraft may save lives. New research in the INFORMS journal Service Science uses two models to help solve the airplane seating assignment problem (ASAP). The models can lower the transmission risk of COVID-19 more so than the strategy of blocking the middle seats, given the same number of passengers.
"Blocking the middle seat on an airplane may provide limited benefit in reducing the risk of transmission of COVID-19. Rather, other health protocols are better supported at preventing the transmission ...
2021-03-24
SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic, arrived one year ago and turned our lives upside-down.
While worldwide vaccination programs are currently ongoing, we do not yet know for how long the vaccine will provide immune protection against infection, and if the currently approved vaccines can provide protection against the emerging virus variants.
In addition, it appears that vaccines cannot prevent illness for people who have already been infected. In contrast to vaccines, there are currently no effective drugs that act against the virus SARS-CoV-2.
New research by Associate Professor Jasmin Mecinovic and co-workers from the Department of Physics, Chemistry and Pharmacy, University of Southern Denmark, now presents a compound that might provide a basis for the ...
2021-03-24
Decarbonizing the economy and achieving the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energies is one of the most urgent global challenges of the 21st century. Hydrogen can play a key role in this process as a promising climate-neutral energy vehicle. Yet, the so-called green hydrogen economy requires that hydrogen production be based exclusively on renewable energy. In addition, it should ideally not use expensive and rare metal catalysts, whose production has severe environmental consequences. To address this challenge, ITQB NOVA researchers Inês Cardoso Pereira and Mónica Martins are working on an innovative technology to produce hydrogen from light using non-photosynthetic microorganisms.
Hydrogen offers exciting new possibilities as an energy vehicle, ...
2021-03-24
The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration, a multinational team of over 300 scientists including two astrophysicists from the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits University), has revealed today a new view of the massive object at the centre of the M87 galaxy: how it looks in polarised light.
This is the first time astronomers have been able to measure polarisation, a signature of magnetic fields, this close to the edge of a black hole. The observations are key to explaining how the M87 galaxy, located 55 million light-years away, is able to launch energetic jets from its core.
"We are now seeing the next crucial piece of evidence to understand how magnetic fields behave around black holes, and how activity in this very compact region of space can drive powerful ...
2021-03-24
The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration, who produced the first ever image of a black hole, has today revealed a new view of the massive object at the centre of the Messier 87 (M87) galaxy: how it looks in polarised light. This is the first time astronomers have been able to measure polarisation, a signature of magnetic fields, this close to the edge of a black hole. The observations are key to explaining how the M87 galaxy, located 55 million light-years away, is able to launch energetic jets from its core.
"We are now seeing the next crucial piece of evidence to understand ...
2021-03-24
A new study from the University of Bergen (UiB) shows that the way young people view their bodies have a great impact on their BMI.
In a two-year follow up study among 1225 Norwegian adolescents in their early teens, professor Eivind Meland and his team examined how body mass index, self-esteem and self-rated health were mutually impacted and influenced by body dissatisfaction.
"We revealed that positive self-image and self-esteem protected against weight gain", professor emeritus Meland says.
The girls had in general lower body confidence than boys, the study shows.
Body dissatisfaction
The eager to be thinner, dieting, and wanting to change something with the body all impaired self-rated health ...
2021-03-24
A new study shows that when people replace their old couch with a new one that has no added flame retardants, levels of the harmful chemicals in household dust drop significantly. Replacing the foam inside the couch cushions is also just as effective. The findings confirm that choosing healthier furniture without flame retardants can make a big difference in people's--especially children's--everyday exposures to these toxic chemicals.
"We've long suspected that couches are a major source of toxic chemicals in dust. Now, for the first time, we have evidence demonstrating the positive impacts of replacing old furniture containing flame retardants," ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
[Press-News.org] 'Mother's own milk' for premature infants: Minority mothers need effective strategies
