Evidence · Randomised trial
Oropharyngeal administration of colostrum for preventing necrotizing enterocolitis and late-onset sepsis in preterm infants with gestational age ≤ 32 weeks: a pilot single-center randomized controlled trial.
- Breast milk and breastfeeding
- Enteral feeding
- Infection
- Intraventricular haemorrhage and white matter injury
- Late-onset sepsis
- Medical
- Necrotising enterocolitis
- Nursing
- Nutrition and gastrointestinal
Summary
Pilot single-centre randomised controlled trial from a tertiary NICU in China comparing oropharyngeal administration of maternal colostrum with normal saline in preterm infants born at 32 weeks' gestation or less. Outcomes included necrotising enterocolitis, late-onset sepsis, severe intraventricular haemorrhage and time to full enteral feeding. The colostrum group had lower rates of NEC and late-onset sepsis and reached full feeds sooner, with no adverse reactions reported. The authors present oropharyngeal colostrum as a safe, simple NICU procedure, though the trial was retrospectively registered and single-centre.
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