Building strong hearts: Recent evidence on human milk and direct breastfeeding for infants with critical congenital heart disease (CHD)
Infants with critical congenital heart disease (CHD) are among the most vulnerable neonates and experience extremely low rates of human milk feeding and direct breast/chestfeeding. Until recently, there has been little evidence on this topic, with concurrent variation in feeding practice across clinical sites.
Wednesday, 21 June 2023
This session will discuss a series of recent studies examining the prevalence of human milk and breastfeeding for infants with critical CHD, identifying supportive and limiting factors of these feeding practices, and investigating the impact of human milk and breastfeeding on key health outcomes in this population. Qualitative findings from lactating parents of infants with critical CHD will further describe the process by which direct breastfeeding can be established with these vulnerable infants.
Learning objectives
On completion of this session, participants will be able to:
- Describe the prevalence of human milk and breastfeeding for infants with critical CHD in the United States
- Identify the strongest predictors of human milk and breastfeeding in this population
- Explain how lactating parents establish a direct breastfeeding relationship with an infant with critical CHD
- Describe how human milk and direct breastfeeding impact key health outcomes for these infants (e.g., necrotizing enterocolitis, sepsis, hospital length of stay, mortality)
Event details
Date 21 June 2023
Duration 1 hour
Time 20:00 – 21:00 Central European Time (13:00 – 14:00 Central Standard Time)
US and Canada residents need to register by visiting Medela Education
Presenter
Kristin Elgersma, DM, MN, RN, PhD (C)
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Kristin Elgersma, DM, MN, RN, is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Minnesota School of Nursing, a current NIH NRSA F31 Fellow, and a parent of a child born with critical congenital heart disease (CHD). Her work focuses on feeding for infants with CHD, with a particular interest in human milk feeding and direct breastfeeding as a means of optimizing infant health and providing family-centered, developmental care. Dr. Elgersma holds previous doctoral and master's degrees in piano performance from Northwestern University.
