Abstract
Objectives
To compare breast milk volume between manual method and breast pump expression in mothers of preterm infants at different time point of first week.
Design
Randomized controlled trial.
Setting
Postpartum ward of Obstetrics department and tertiary level neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) in a single institution in Orissa between October, 2020 and May, 2021.
Participants
Mothers who delivered before 34 completed weeks of gestation.
Interventions
Manual breastmilk expression (ME) group using Marmet technique and breast pump milk expression (PE) group using pigeon manual breast pump, initiated milk expression within one hour of delivery.
Outcome measures
Expressed breast milk (EBM) volume in mothers of preterm infants at different time point of first week, and cumulative milk volume.
Results
Out of 170 mothers (83 PE and 87 ME group), 7-days milk volume data was available for 137 (71 ME and 66 PE) mothers. In per protocol analysis for 126 mothers (63 in each group), the median (IQR) EBM volume on day 2 and day 7 of ME and PE groups were similar [10 (5,20) vs 12 (5,28), P=0.10] and [280 (220–356) vs 280 (220–360), P=0.66]. The median (IQR) cumulative EBM volume over first 7 days in ME group was not significantly different from PE group [733 (593–995) vs 848.5 (571–1009)] P=0.55). A similar number of mothers in the PE and ME group [56 (88.9%) vs 58 (92%); P=0.14] provided exclusive breast milk for their neonates during the first week. Similar results were found on intention to treat analysis.
Conclusion
EBM volume expressed was comparable between mothers expressing manually or with breast pump.
Key words: Lactation, Low birthweight, Nutrition, Volume
Contributors: AD: data collection and methodology; SSB: manuscript editing and revising it for intellectual content; SKP: development of concept, critical input in the manuscript. All authors approved the final version of the manuscript.
Funding: None. Competing interests: None stated.
Ethics clearance: IEC, KIMS Hospital; No. KIMS/KIIT/IEC/521/2020 dated Dec 08, 2020.
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