Policy of feeding very preterm infants with their mother's own fresh expressed milk was associated with a reduced risk of bronchopulmonary dysplasia

Abstract Aim Since 2005, the French Food Safety Agency has recommended that very preterm or low‐birthweight babies should be fed with pasteurised, expressed breastmilk, and feeding policies on this vary widely in French neonatal units. We investigated the differences between using a mother's expressed milk, in fresh or pasteurised forms, for very preterm infants. Methods This observational multicentre study analysed data on 926 very preterm infants: 636 from neonatal units who used the mother's own fresh milk and 290 who used the mother's milk after pasteurisation. We analysed necrotising enterocolitis, bronchopulmonary dysplasia, in‐hospital mortality, late‐onset sepsis, weight gain, length of hospital stay, the duration of parenteral nutrition and the duration of enteral feeding with a nasogastric tube. Multivariate analyses were conducted to assess the impact of maternal milk policies. Results After adjustment, there was a reduced risk of bronchopulmonary dysplasia in the fresh milk group with an odds ratio of 0.40 and 95% confidence interval of 0.27–0.67 (p < 0.001). No other statistically significant differences were observed. Conclusion Feeding very preterm infants with their mother's expressed fresh milk was associated with a reduced risk of bronchopulmonary dysplasia, and further investigations are needed to evaluate the clinical impact of this practice.