Breast-fed low-birth-weight premature neonates: developmental assessment and nutritional intake in the first 6 months of life.

A secondary analysis of a randomized clinical trial in which the control group received routine breast-feeding care, consisted of women planning to breast-feed their low-birth-weight (LBW) premature infants, was conducted. The purpose of this secondary analysis was to examine the nutrition of healthy premature LBW infants and its impact on their development. A longitudinal prospective descriptive design was implemented measuring the same group of 50 healthy breast-feeding LBW premature infants from birth to 6 months corrected age. Developmental screening was performed at 6 months corrected age using the Bayley Scales of Infant Development to assess development in Mental scale, Motor scale, and Infant Behavioral record. Repeated measures analyses of variance were performed between the 3 gestational age groups and between the breast-fed and non-breast-fed groups. Bayley Scales of Infant Development Mental and Motor scales showed significant differences between the breast-fed and non-breast-fed groups at 6 months corrected age (P < .014 and P < .013, respectively). The nutrition of healthy premature LBW infants over time was recorded and described. Nutritional assessment indicated that human milk intake in some quantity decreased from 40 weeks corrected age to 6 months corrected age: 70% to 26%. These findings can be utilized in anticipatory guidance when caring for neonates and mothers in the neonatal intensive care unit to encourage mothers to provide their own milk and strive to breast-feed.