Keywords
human milk; premature birth; breast milk expression; lactation
Key points
- Neonatal units and maternity teams should focus on encouraging and facilitating first expression of milk within two hours of preterm delivery.
- Mothers should be encouraged to express more milk than their preterm baby requires in the first few weeks of life, with a target of 750mL in 24 hours.
- Further work is necessary to analyse the optimal frequency of expression and at what time point the volume target should be applied.
