Tag Archives: breast milk

Neonatal Research Shorts : November 2025

Posted on 10 November 2025 by Keith Barrington

Ybarra M, et al. Low-Grade Germinal Matrix Hemorrhage-Intraventricular Hemorrhage and Concomitant Preterm Brain Injuries: Neurodevelopmental Outcomes at 3 Years of Age. J Pediatr. 2025:114713. Previous studies of the long term outcome of infants with germinal matrix or low grade IVH … Continue reading →

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Supporting Breast Milk production in the NICU

Posted on 26 May 2025 by Keith Barrington

A recent confluence of 3 reviews, one on breastfeeding specifically in the NICU (Hilditch C, et al. Effect of Neonatal Unit Interventions Designed to Increase Breastfeeding in Preterm Infants: An Overview of Systematic Reviews. Neonatology. 2024;121(4):411-20) another on the evidence … Continue reading →

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NEC awareness day, 17 May 2025. What is new in NEC prevention?

Posted on 17 May 2025 by Keith Barrington

I thought, as today is NEC awareness day, I would give an overview of recent research about NEC prevention strategies. Probiotics. I am sure my readers are aware of the major problems in the USA which have followed the occurrence … Continue reading →

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Breast is Best; is Fresher Better?

Posted on 30 January 2025 by Keith Barrington

A recurrent problem in the NICU is “bandwagon-jumping”. An intervention with some preliminary positive data, and a possible physiologic rationale is widely adopted and made part of QI bundles with little or no reliable evidence that it is either effective … Continue reading →

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How should we pasteurize donor breast milk?

Posted on 23 April 2024 by Keith Barrington

The standard method of pasteurization of donor breast milk, and I believe the only method approved by HMBANA (the human milk banking association of north america), is similar to what Louis Pasteur himself came up with a couple of centuries … Continue reading →

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Donor human milk, not toxic after all!

Posted on 31 January 2024 by Keith Barrington

It was fairly recently that I deconstructed a truly terrible database analysis which claimed that neonatal mortality was dramatically increased among very preterm infants who received mother’s own milk (MoM) and donor human milk (DHM), without any formula or fortifier, … Continue reading →

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More thoughts about the “toxicity” of donor milk, a case of Reverse Causation

Posted on 6 November 2023 by Keith Barrington

After my recent post, about the study which suggested that donor milk was killing babies, I have been taking a deeper dive into the article, as I prepare a letter to the editor. Only 2 small subsets of the infants … Continue reading →

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Interesting study, impossible results. Donor breast milk is not toxic.

Posted on 29 October 2023 by Keith Barrington

Is it possible that giving artificial formula to babies will prevent 90% of the deaths of very preterm babies, compared to using donor human milk? (Chehrazi M, et al. Outcomes in very preterm infants receiving an exclusive human milk diet, … Continue reading →

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Artificial Formulae and NEC. It is not necessarily the protein source!

Posted on 18 October 2023 by Keith Barrington

As mentioned several times recently, artificial formula seems to lead to an increase in Necrotising Enterocolitis, compared to donor milk. Of note, the trials in the Cochrane Systematic Review include both those with the entire diet being formula or donor … Continue reading →

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The myth of the “exclusive human milk diet”; fortification options for breast milk.

Posted on 12 October 2023 by Keith Barrington

The Exclusive Human Milk Diet sounds superficially immediately convincing: “We should only give milk products derived from human milk to human babies”. But, is it more than just a catchy phrase? The major company which is responsible for producing a … Continue reading →

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