Breastfeeding infants with CHD: an evidence summary and recommendations from the Cardiac Newborn Neuroprotective Network, a special interest group of the Cardiac Neurodevelopmental Outcome Collaborative.

Abstract

Human milk and direct breastfeeding provide the optimal, biologically normative nutrition for hospitalised infants, with well-established benefits for immune, gut, cardiac, brain, and maternal health. Despite these benefits, human milk and breastfeeding rates for infants with CHD in high-resource countries are typically low, and there are no formal guidelines to drive CHD breastfeeding practice. Our aim is to (1) summarise the evidence on breastfeeding for infants with CHD, (2) discuss key barriers to and facilitators of breastfeeding in this population, (3) identify critical research and practice gaps to improve breastfeeding care in CHD, and (4) provide recommendations for clinical practice and future research.Primary breastfeeding barriers for infants with CHD include (1) concern for dysphagia/aspiration, (2) concerns related to weight gain, (3) clinical instability/sickness, (4) developmental considerations, (5) general breastfeeding challenges, and (6) workflow and implementation issues, with racism and health disparities also contributing. The evidence to support these barriers is limited and often conflicting. Breastfeeding facilitators for preterm infants are well described, but facilitators may require modification for infants with CHD. Most lactation interventions have not been tested in CHD populations. Current evidence does not support automatic withholding of breastfeeding from infants with CHD; rather, the benefits of breastfeeding likely outweigh many potential concerns. There is a critical need for research and quality improvement to identify interventions that equitably and effectively support breastfeeding for infants with CHD and to evaluate the effect of breastfeeding on short- and long-term physical, psychological, and developmental outcomes for infants and families.