Role of Donor Milk Supplementation in Newborn Nursery Level 1 in Improving Exclusive Breastfeeding Rate at Six Months of Life

Background and Aim: Despite the American Academy of Pediatrics’ (AAP) endorsement of the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative ten steps to optimize breastfeeding, a percentage of newborns in the level one nursery ends up using formula for medical reasons including hypoglycemia, hyperbilirubinemia, weight loss greater than 8% or ineffective breastfeeding. Improving exclusive breastfeeding rates requires efforts in initiating exclusive breastfeeding in the postpartum hospital stay. Therefore, we introduced donor milk to newborns who needed nutritional supplements for medical reasons. We aimed to determine the benefits of Pasteurized Donor Human Milk supplement …