Breastfeeding medicine : the official journal of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine
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Observational Study
Effect of a Quality Improvement Project to Use Exclusive Mother's Own Milk on Rate of Necrotizing Enterocolitis in Preterm Infants.
Mother's own milk (MOM) remains the key strategy to prevent necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) in preterm infants. We developed and implemented quality improvement (QI) initiatives to improve rate of using MOM in preterm infants of <32 weeks of gestation. The objective was to evaluate the impact of this QI project on NEC incidence in this population. ⋯ QI initiatives were effective in increasing use of exclusive MOM at time of first feed and of any MOM at time of discharge and in reducing NEC incidence in our neonatal intensive care unit.