Feeding human breast milk to very-low-birth-weight infants
greatly reduces risk for sepsis and significantly lowers associated neonatal
intensive care unit (NICU) costs, according to a study by Rush University
Medical Center researchers.
The study, published Jan. 31 in the advance online version
of the Journal of Perinatology, showed that every 10 milliliters of human milk
per kilogram that a very low birth weight infant received during the first 28
days of life decreased the odds of sepsis by almost 20 percent.