Episode Details
Back to Episodes#465 - [🫀 From The Heart] - Bringing NICU Feeding Practices to the CICU (ft Dr. Elgersma)
Description
In this episode of From the Heart, Drs. Nim Goldshtrom and Adrianne Bischoff talk with Dr. Kristin Elgersma, a nurse-researcher whose path into neonatal nutrition began at her son's bedside in a cardiac ICU. A former concert pianist turned nurse-researcher, Kristin asked a question no one had: does human milk change outcomes for babies with congenital heart disease? Her multicenter PC4 study of day-by-day data from over 800 infants across 25 centers found no link between human milk and NEC, though bovine-derived formula or fortifier tripled NEC risk within five days, while higher human milk intake meant roughly nine fewer hospital days. They cover lactation support, donor milk gaps between NICUs and CICUs, and practical next steps.
----
Elgersma et al. Human milk feeding, fortification initiation, and clinical outcomes in neonates with critical congenital heart disease: A multi-institutional study. medRxiv 2026. DOI 10.64898/2026.08.20.26360934 (preprint, no PMID)
Elgersma et al. Human milk feeding and direct breastfeeding improve outcomes for infants with single ventricle congenital heart disease: Propensity score-matched analysis of the NPC-QIC registry. J Am Heart Assoc 2023. PMID 37642030
As always, feel free to send us questions, comments, or suggestions to our email: nicupodcast@gmail.com. You can also contact the show through Instagram or Twitter, @nicupodcast. Or contact Ben and Daphna directly via their Twitter profiles: @drnicu and @doctordaphnamd. The papers discussed in today's episode are listed and timestamped on the webpage linked below.
Enjoy!