MedWire News: Researchers recommend that mothers of late preterm infants use breast pumps and nipple shields to help stimulate lactation.

Late preterm infants are more vulnerable to jaundice and respiratory distress than term infants, often requiring longer periods of rehospitilization, Paula Meier (Rush University Medical Center, Chicago) and colleagues explain. Breastfeeding can contribute to these problems, because these infants tend to consume inadequate volumes of breast milk, they note.

In their review, the researchers recommend breastfeeding strategies to optimize the duration of breastfeeding in vulnerable infants, thereby reducing their risk for lactation-associated morbidities.

During the post-partum period, infants should sustain at least 15 minutes of effective suckling eight to 10 times a day, say the researchers. If this is not possible, a hospital grade electric breast pump can restore a mother’s milk supply.

Ultra thin silicone nipple shields can also serve as a temporary breastfeeding aid while stimulating lactation in the breast itself, the researchers suggest.

Furthermore, a cross-cradle position, which encircles the infant’s head lending support to the infants head and shoulders will help the infant to latch onto the mother’s breast, they note.

“Only when the preterm infant latches effectively to the breast, feeds for longer by staying awake, and gains the expected amount of weight from exclusive breastfeeding… should the mother gradually decrease these breastfeeding strategies,” the authors conclude.

Journal abstract