12 Newborn Critical Care Centers (NCCC) who have been working together to increase by 50% the number of babies receiving mom’s milk at 28 days of life met to share successes and challenges, hear from parent’s whose infants were VLBW and had mother’s milk, and, support each team to continue to work on this important aim. During the course of the day there were presentations and 'town hall' style meetings on
- building teams and driving improvement
- optimizing the growth of the VLBW infant
- transitioning from gavage to oral feedings
as well as two well-received parent panels that discussed
- kangaroo care and strategies for successful implementation
- from pumping to nursing: first approach, first month and transitioning to breast feeding
and, of course, ample time for teams to share tools and techniques.