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. 2025 Aug 21;23:947. doi: 10.1186/s12967-025-06967-5

Table 2.

Characteristics of participants overall and by randomized assignment

Characteristics All Participants1 (n = 52) OWN SUPP
Home-sterilized (n = 13) Washed (n = 39)
Mothers’ age in years; Mean ± SD 34 ± 4.0 33 ± 4.3 34 ± 3.9
Time postpartum in months; Median (IQR) 5.7 (3.4, 9.6) 5.7 (2.7, 8.2) 5.7 (3.5, 10.2)
Maternal race, Caucasian n (%) 45 (86) 13 (100) 32 (82)
Parity, Primiparous n (%) 18 (35) 4 (31) 14 (36)
Gestational weight gain in pounds (GWG); Median (IQR) 30.0 (25.0, 36.2) 30.0 (25.0, 30.0) 30.0 (27.0, 40.0)
Maternal Postpartum BMI; Median (IQR) 25.4 (22.4, 28.4) 25.6 (24.8, 27.4) 24.6 (21.8, 28.6)
Infant exclusively fed HM n (%) 27 (52) 9 (69) 18 (46)
Pre-pumping Hygiene Practices
Washed hands before pumping, yes n (%) 8 (15) 2 (15)2 6 (17)
Personal pump, open-system 32 (62) 10 (77) 22 (56)
Infant fed HM only 27 (52) 9 (69) 18 (46)

Values reported as Mean ± SD for continuous variables or n (%) for categorical variables. HM, human milk; OWN SUPP, own pumping supplies

1All participants used commercially sterilized (STER SUPP)

2n = 10