This presentation highlights the newest evidence that mothers’ own milk is “personalized medicine” for NICU infants, and summarizes why donor human milk feedings do not yield the same beneficial outcomes.  Given that there is no optimal substitute for mothers’ own milk, strategies to prioritize its availability in the NICU are essential.  This session targets the first two weeks post-birth as a critical period that includes secretory activation and achievement of coming to volume in breast pump-dependent mothers of NICU infants, and includes evidence, best practices and the newest ongoing research in this area.

This program has been approved for 1.0 contact hours; provider approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing, CEP 13692.

This course is CPD (Continuing Professional Development) certified. 

Presenter

Prof. Paula Meier, PhD, RN
Paula Meier, PhD, RN, is a Professor of Pediatrics and Nursing at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. Dr. Meier has worked as a practitioner, researcher, and educator in the area of human milk, lactation and breastfeeding for premature infants and their mothers since 1975.
Dr. Meier's lifetime research focus has been on the improvement of initiation and maintenance of lactation in breast pump-dependent mothers of NICU infants, and in the development and testing of clinical techniques to optimize the impact of human milk on health and cost outcomes in NICU infants.