The Centre of Research Excellence in Human Milk in Preterm Infants is a collaborative project aiming to improve breastfeeding and the use of human milk in premature babies.
Leading experts from across Australia will investigate why breastfeeding rates are lower in premature infants and develop ways to improve lactation support for mothers.
The collaborative group’s vision is to improve human milk feeding among preterm infants to reduce the burden of prematurity related cognitive and physical impairment on children, families and society. In February, the leading experts in this research space met together in Adelaide to plan the launch of the programs which will achieve this vision.
“We know maternal milk greatly improves outcomes of prematurity, including cognitive development. Despite this, breastfeeding rates among these tiny, vulnerable babies are significantly lower than full-term infants and haven’t improved much in the past twenty years,” Prof Rumbold said.
Breastfeeding premature babies presents a variety of challenges, including difficulties suckling at birth, high nutrient requirements and reduced maternal milk supply.
“By working with families and health care providers, we hope to improve breastfeeding support after birth by designing and evaluating lactation support strategies in neonatal units and developing new nutritional interventions that harness the unique components of human milk,” Professor Rumbold said.
The projects will also explore ways to optimise the use of donor human milk, including how much donor or maternal milk is needed to deliver the best benefits for very preterm babies.
The Centre of Research Excellence will enable us to build the capabilities of a cohort of early career researchers to support the translation of research to give preterm infants the best start in life.