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Premature babies fed more breast milk develop higher IQ, functional skills
Preterm infants who were fed more breast milk in their first 28 days had greater deep nuclear gray matter volume, higher intelligence scores, better mathematics scores, working memory and motor function at term equivalent and age 7 years vs. preterm infants not fed breast milk, according to study findings.
“Our data support current recommendations for using mother’s milk to feed preterm babies during their neonatal ICU hospitalization,” Mandy Brown Belfort, MD, from the department of newborn medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, said in a press release. “This is not only important for moms, but also for hospitals, employers, and friends and family members, so that they can provide the support that’s needed during this time when mothers are under stress and working hard to produce milk for their babies.”
To examine the link between breast milk intake during neonatal hospital stay and cognitive and neurodevelopmental outcomes, the researchers conducted a cohort, longitudinal study that included 180 infants born at less than 30 weeks’ gestational age or less than 1,250 g at birth. The babies were enrolled in the Victorian Infant Brain Studies cohort between 2001 and 2013. Belfort and colleagues counted the number of days that infants were fed more than 50% breast milk in their first 28 days of life. Participants underwent brain MRIs at term equivalent and age 7 years to assess for developmental characteristics.
Infants fed breast milk more than 50% of their first 28 days of life had MRI characteristics associated with greater deep nuclear gray matter at term equivalent age (0.15 cc/day; 95% CI, 0.05-0.25), higher IQ at age 7 years (0.5 points/day; 95% CI, 0.2-0.8), better working memory (0.5; 95% CI, 0.1-0.9), mathematics skills (0.5; 95% CI, 0.1-0.9) and motor function skills (0.1; 95% CI, 0-0.2). The researchers recommend future MRI technique studies that examine breast milk’s influence on the development of the human brain.
“Many mothers of preterm babies have difficulty providing breast milk for their babies, and we need to work hard to ensure that these mothers have the best possible support systems in place to maximize their ability to meet their own feeding goals,” Belfort said in the release. “It’s also important to note that there are so many factors that influence a baby’s development, with breast milk being just one.” – by Kate Sherrer
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
