NICU Parents Guide for Pumping and Breastfeeding

Helping You Supply Breastmilk The Best Nutrition For Your Baby

Your baby has been admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, NICU. You may have been planning on or thinking about breastfeeding and wonder if it is still possible. Well, it is! Babies who are born three or more weeks before their due date need their mother’s milk to help protect them from disease, help them grow and develop, and help with digestion. Only your milk can do all that. Breastfeeding and providing breastmilk for your newborn is one of the most important things you can do for your baby. Even if you were not planning on breastfeeding, breastmilk will give your baby the very best start in life. Breastmilk provides the BEST NUTRITION for your baby.

Breastmilk contains special nutrients that help prevent infections and help shorten your baby’s time in the hospital. Milk from mothers who deliver early is different from milk of mothers who deliver full term babies. It is specially designed for the baby’s needs. Even a few drops of the first milk you produce, called colostrum, contains important infection-fighting cells. Providing your milk for your baby lets you participate in your baby’s healthcare in a very crucial way. Because the benefits of mother’s milk are so important to your premature newborn, you are able to do something for your baby that no one else can do!