Aria Markham, 8-months, was born five weeks early and is part of a study looking at the best way of feeding premature babies. Photo / Supplied
Aria Markham, 8-months, was born five weeks early and is part of a study looking at the best way of feeding premature babies. Photo / Supplied
Premature babies are two to five times more likely to develop learning difficulties later in life but a new study hopes to change that.
Brain scans of days-old premature babies will be carried out in Auckland hospitals to help researchers determine the best feeding style for brain development.
The world-first study, led by Distinguished Professor Jane Harding at the University of Auckland-based Liggins Institute in collaboration with Professor Steve Miller from the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada, has been made possible thanks to $1.2 million in funding from the Health Research Council.
The study will involve performing MRI scans on 96 babies born between 32-36 weeks gestation and comparing different ways of feeding them with the growth of their brain.
The scans will be carried out a few days after birth and again at their due date to see how nutrition in the first days, before they are able to breastfeed, affects brain growth and development.
"We hope this study will allow us to identify ways of feeding these babies that will enhance their brain development," Harding said.
"It's exciting not only because this is the first time anyone has looked at the effect of nutrition on brain growth and development in moderate-to-late preterm babies, but also because it will help us develop new techniques in collaboration with world experts."
Liggins Institute Professor Jane Harding. Photo / Supplied
When babies are born premature it could take time for the mother's milk to come through and could be weeks before the baby's gut was mature enough to tolerate the milk.
There was little research into how best to feed babies but a common approach was to give babies a sugar solution intravenously while gradually increasing the amount of milk fed via a nasogastric tube.
Every year, about 5000 babies were born preterm in New Zealand.
While the vast majority survived they carried a greater risk of problems with growth, learning, and adult diseases such as obesity and diabetes than babies born at term.
Harding said the risk of premature babies developing learning difficulties was two to five times higher than for full term babies depending on how early they were born.
"Better early brain growth and maturation is associated with better development as the babies get older," Harding said. "If we can pinpoint the feeding approach that best supports early brain development, we may significantly lower the risks of these babies experiencing learning difficulties later in life."
The new research builds into the Diamond study also being carried out by the Liggins Institute which compares different ways of providing nutritional support to premature babies while they are learning to breastfeed and looks at their progress later in life.
In the study, babies were randomly allocated to intravenously receive just sugar water or sugar water plus protein. They also either received a specially formulated human milk substitute via the feeding tube or waited until breast milk was available.
Half were also helped to smell and taste a few drops of milk before the tube-feed, as evidence from a pilot study suggested this may help them feed earlier.
Researchers in the new brain MRI study have proposed that giving babies protein-boosted sugar water intravenously may affect how the cerebral cortex – responsible for high level brain functions – matures, and that exposure to milk before a tube-feed may alter maturation of the thalamus – the co-ordinating centre at the base of the brain.
A mother's story
Deborah Markham's baby Aria was born five weeks early and is part of a new study looking at the best method of feeding premature babies. Photo / Supplied
North Shore couple Deborah and Steven Markham's baby was not due for another five weeks when her waters broke last October.
She was a healthy 2.5kg but needed to be placed under special lights to prevent jaundice, and spent 10 days in hospital.
That's when the couple were approached to be part of the Diamond study.
"We saw it as a great opportunity to help other preterm babies in the future," Deborah said.
She had read there was no research on the best way to nourish a premature baby before the mother's milk came in and believed it was "important to give them the best start in life, especially if they are preterm as well".
Aria - now a healthy, happy 8-month-old - was randomly selected to receive a sugar solution intravenously in the three or four days before she started breastfeeding.
