Prof. Paula Meier
Paula Meier, PhD, RN, FAAN
Director of Lactation Services, Neonatal Intensive Care
Professor of Pediatrics
Professor of Women, Children and Family Nursing
Rush University Medical Center
Professor of Pediatrics and Nursing, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, USA.
Paula Meier, PhD, RN, is Professor of Pediatrics and Nursing, and Director of NICU Lactation Services in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Rush University Medical Center. Since 1975, she has worked as a practitioner, researcher and educator in the field of human milk, lactation and breastfeeding for premature infants and their mothers. She is former President of the International Society for Research in Human Milk and Lactation and is an active member of the Health Advisory Council for La Leche League, International. The recipient of multiple Distinguished Alumna Awards from the University of Illinois and Rush University, in 2013, she received the Audrey Hepburn Award for Contributions to the Health and Welfare of Children from Sigma Theta Tau, International. She has published over 150 peer-reviewed manuscripts and parent education materials and has mentored graduate students from a multitude of disciplines.
Prof. Meier's lifetime research focus has been concentrated in understanding and improving the initiation and maintenance of lactation in breast pump-dependent mothers of NICU infants. She has also focused on developing clinical techniques which optimise the impact of human milk on health and cost outcomes for NICU infants. She currently leads the multidisciplinary Rush University NICU Human Milk Research Team, whose numerous externally-funded translational research and demonstration projects aim to remove barriers to high-dose, long-exposure feeding of mothers' own milk to NICU infants.
Abstract: Human milk in the NICU: Translating evidence into practice
Mothers of premature and other NICU infants must depend on the breast pump to remove milk for infant feeding in addition to maintaining lactation processes that are instrumental to continued milk production and secretion. Despite the fact that mothers’ own milk (MOM) reduces the risk of multiple potentially preventable complications associated with prematurity and/or NICU hospitalisation as well as their costs, little translational science has informed the optimal management of “pumping.” A series of published studies by the Rush NICU Human Milk Research Team has demonstrated that the primary predictor of sustained MOM provision through to NICU discharge is an achievement of coming to volume (CTV; pumped MOM volume ≥ 500 mLs per day by postpartum day 14). This finding and similar data from other researchers emphasise the importance of prioritising this two-week time frame with respect to resource allocation for both research and practice.
This presentation focuses on the underlying science of MOM synthesis and secretion during this critical window with application to the NICU pump-dependent population with its multiple lactation risk factors. Equipment and techniques that optimise pumped MOM volume for the individual mother-NICU infant dyad will be summarised, and best practices to detect and manage early lactation problems in the clinical setting will be illustrated with data and case studies. New research by the Rush NICU Human Milk Research Team that targets point-of-care testing for MOM volume problems during CTV will be highlighted.
