There’s another confounder I don’t think you mentioned here: preterm babies are more likely to be bottle fed because that’s primarily how NICUs feed them (at least when they’re off the feeding tube). Many causes of preterm birth (IUGR, for example, which my son had) correlate strongly with developmental issues.
Yeah, I think a more specific case of feeding with bottle on account of difficulties, but very relevant since it’s not just me making a plausible inference on the bottle feeding difficulty-development link. I don’t know much about preterm outcomes in the long run, do you know if the impact reduces with time?
Depends on how preterm, and the cause. 34 weeks and later tend to have no notable difference over time, but before that there can be very strong associations with eg autism or more mild developmental delays. Early onset IUGR in particular can increase risk of autism by something like 900% IIRC.
I don't know if this is the case - breastmilk is emphasised relentlessly in NICU because of the well-established link between formula and necrotising enterocolitis in this group of babies. Where I worked they were getting much more breastmilk than term babies in the same catchment area!
That’s true, but they’re still usually bottle fed. In my (admittedly anecdotal) experience a lot of NICU babies can’t get enough calories through breast milk alone and end up on either a high calorie formula or a fortifier.
There’s another confounder I don’t think you mentioned here: preterm babies are more likely to be bottle fed because that’s primarily how NICUs feed them (at least when they’re off the feeding tube). Many causes of preterm birth (IUGR, for example, which my son had) correlate strongly with developmental issues.
Yeah, I think a more specific case of feeding with bottle on account of difficulties, but very relevant since it’s not just me making a plausible inference on the bottle feeding difficulty-development link. I don’t know much about preterm outcomes in the long run, do you know if the impact reduces with time?
Depends on how preterm, and the cause. 34 weeks and later tend to have no notable difference over time, but before that there can be very strong associations with eg autism or more mild developmental delays. Early onset IUGR in particular can increase risk of autism by something like 900% IIRC.
Very interesting, thanks for sharing. Hope your lad is coming along well
I don't know if this is the case - breastmilk is emphasised relentlessly in NICU because of the well-established link between formula and necrotising enterocolitis in this group of babies. Where I worked they were getting much more breastmilk than term babies in the same catchment area!
That’s true, but they’re still usually bottle fed. In my (admittedly anecdotal) experience a lot of NICU babies can’t get enough calories through breast milk alone and end up on either a high calorie formula or a fortifier.