Prevalence of use and reasons for feeding hospitalised neonates with EHF
| n (%) | |
|---|---|
| Infants hospitalised on the day of the questionnaire filling (n) | 1969 |
| Infants receiving an EHF, n (% of hospitalised infants) | 238 (12.1%) |
| Reasons for feeding neonates with EHF | |
| Initiation of feeds | |
| After NEC stage II or III | 25 (10.5%) |
| After perinatal asphyxia | 8 (3.3%) |
| After any kind of surgery | 4 (1.7%) |
| Shortage of human milk | |
| Feeding initiation of preterm infants in the absence of human milk | 63 (26.5%) |
| Complementary feeding of breastfed neonates | 84 (35.3%) |
| Allergy prevention in high-risk neonates | 2 (0.8%) |
| Gastrointestinal symptoms (compatible or not with cow's milk protein allergy) | 31 (13.0%) |
| Others (research protocol, hypoglycaemia, cholestasis, metabolic disease, etc, no reasons indicated) | 21 (8.8%) |
EHF, extensively hydrolysed formula of cow's milk proteins; NEC, necrotising enterocolitis.