Improving breast milk support and care for very low birth weight babies in safety-net NICUs
Strategies to Improve Quality of Care Delivery in Safety Net NICUs
This project brings safety-net NICUs together to boost rates of breast milk feeding at discharge for very low birth weight infants by sharing practical changes and hospital-level support.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Stanford University NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Stanford, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11251302 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
If your very low birth weight baby receives care at a safety-net NICU, this project connects those hospitals across California into a peer-learning network that tracks care and outcomes for about 5,300 babies. Participating hospitals will share practices, try practical changes to support breast milk feeding at discharge, and use registry data to monitor progress. Researchers will look for hospital policies and teamwork patterns that help or hurt care so successful approaches can be spread to other centers. The goal is to make it easier for families like yours to get better breastfeeding support and higher-quality newborn care.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Ideal candidates are families of very low birth weight infants (under 1500 grams) who receive care at participating safety-net NICUs, primarily in California.
Not a fit: Families whose babies are cared for at non-participating hospitals, who are not very low birth weight, or whose infants have medical reasons preventing breast milk feeding may not directly benefit from this project.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, more very low birth weight infants in safety-net hospitals may leave the NICU receiving breast milk and experiencing improved short- and long-term health outcomes.
How similar studies have performed: Previous quality-improvement collaboratives and peer-learning networks have improved breastfeeding and NICU outcomes in some settings, but a large, population-based collaborative focused on safety-net NICUs is relatively novel.
Where this research is happening
Stanford, United States
- Stanford University — Stanford, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Profit, Jochen — Stanford University
- Study coordinator: Profit, Jochen
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.