Breast Milk Versus Formula Feeding's Influence on Length of Stay for Patients in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

Prematurity in infants directly influences perinatal mortality and childhood disability, which affects nearly 15 million babies each year. Premature infants born at less than 30 weeks gestation will also have a 20x increased risk of developing necrotizing enterocolitis if they are exclusively formula-fed. Exclusively breast-fed infants have a decreased likelihood of developing infections such as necrotizing enterocolitis and sepsis, thus resulting in a decreased stay of the neonate in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.