Tag Archives: Necrotising Enterocolitis

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 →

Posted in Neonatal Research | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Manipulating the Microbiome

Posted on 2 November 2023 by Keith Barrington

Not with human milk based fortifier, but with probiotics. This post is a sort of intersection between some of my recent posts, human-milk based fortifier does not appear to have a positive effect on the intestinal microbiome. But exogenous probiotics … Continue reading →

Posted in Neonatal Research | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

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 →

Posted in Neonatal Research | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments

The preterm GI tract is not sterile

Posted on 27 October 2023 by Keith Barrington

The FDA are at it again, they seem to be on a mission to go after suppliers of probiotics for preterm babies, and have now attacked Abbott. They appear to have demanded that they stop marketing their probiotic product, as … Continue reading →

Posted in Neonatal Research | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

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 →

Posted in Neonatal Research | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Preventing NEC. Does erythropoietin have a role? Unreliable data.

Posted on 16 October 2023 by Keith Barrington

I wrote a similarly titled post 3 years ago, which lamented the poor research practices of a group in Zhengzhou, who seem to perform large RCTs, then register them after completion, and sometimes register them with different primary outcomes to … Continue reading →

Posted in Neonatal Research | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Preventing NEC : Gastric acid has a purpose, don’t block it.

Posted on 13 October 2023 by Keith Barrington

As this series of posts have all had something to do with prevention of Necrotising Enterocolitis, I thought I’d write about some recent articles which refer to one of the risk factors for NEC, the use of acid suppression medications. … Continue reading →

Posted in Neonatal Research | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

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 →

Posted in Neonatal Research | Tagged , , , , , | 11 Comments

Necrotising Enterocolitis: impacts of feeding patterns

Posted on 11 October 2023 by Keith Barrington

A new review article published in J Perinatol makes many claims about feeding patterns and NEC, but I think has seriously misinterpreted the literature (Assad M, et al. Dilemmas in establishing preterm enteral feeding: where do we start and how … Continue reading →

Posted in Neonatal Research | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Probiotics. What now?

Posted on 6 October 2023 by Keith Barrington

Many of you will have seen or heard of the FDA warning about probiotics in preterm infants. In a letter (I am not in the USA, so I am not sure exactly who this letter was sent to, or the … Continue reading →

Posted in Neonatal Research | Tagged , , , , , | 6 Comments