Information for Clinicians
This is a non-blinded randomised controlled trial with parallel design taking place in two tertiary neonatal units as part of a PhD. The entire recruitment and follow up period of the trial will take 22 months to complete and the trial aims to recruit 132 mothers of very preterm infants.
Inclusion Criteria
- Mother has one or two live infants born at 23+0 to 31+6 gestation
- Infant/s inpatient on a recruiting neonatal unit
- Willing and able to give informed consent for participation in the study
- Aged 18 years or above
- Infant/s will be less than 4 days of age at time of enrolment
- Mother intends to express milk for at least 14 days
- Mother has a device on which she can listen to an MP3 file
Exclusion Criteria
- No dating scan antenatally
- Triplet or higher order pregnancy with more than two live born infants
Primary outcome measure
Highest recorded value for 24-hour weight of expressed milk up to and including day 21
Secondary outcome measures
- Proportion expressing ≥750g milk in any recorded 24-hr period up to & including day 21
- Average milk weight expressed per minute on day 21
- Average maternal anxiety score (6 item version of Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Index: STAI-6)
- Average maternal distress score (Post-Traumatic Stress Checklist for DSM 5: PCL-5)
- Proportion exclusive human milk feeding at 36 weeks post-menstrual age
- Proportion of any human milk feeding at 36 weeks post-menstrual age
- Proportion exclusive human milk feeding at 4 months' corrected age
