Breastfeeding Characteristics and Duration of Feeding Human Milk in Infants With Congenital Heart Disease.

Abstract

Although infants with congenital heart disease (CHD) are able to breastfeed successfully, the factors that affect feeding human milk across the first year are not well established. The objective of this study was to examine breastfeeding characteristics and their relationships to the exclusivity and duration of feeding human milk among infants with CHD. Breastfeeding characteristics data from a cohort of 75 infants with CHD enrolled in a study that examined relationships among milk type and infant growth in the first year of life were analyzed. Infants whose mothers reported not having enough milk were exclusively fed human milk for a shorter duration than those who did not have this challenge ( P = .04); however, the duration of feeding any human milk did not differ ( P = .18). Average daily volume expressed at 1 month was positively related to the duration of exclusive human milk (β = .07, P = .04) and any human milk (β = .07, P = .04) feeding. Future efforts to support feeding human milk in infants with CHD should emphasize practices that support maximal human milk production.