Clinical Trial to Decrease Length of Stay in Infants With Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome With an Exclusive Human Milk Diet

A clinical trial to evaluate length of stay, growth velocity and clinical outcomes in infants with neonatal abstinence syndrome receiving an exclusive human milk diet. Human milk is defined as expressed human milk or donor milk and its derivatives, human milk-based fortifier and human milk caloric fortifier.

This is a single blinded (physician investigator), randomized, controlled trial to evaluate length of stay in infants with NAS and an exclusive human milk diet during their initial hospitalization after birth and through the 28 days of life or hospital discharge, whichever comes first. Subjects will be randomized to one of two groups after at birth. Parents who decline participation for their infants in the study will be asked to consent to data gathering on their infants who will be treated and fed per institutional practice. The data on these individuals will be summarized and evaluated descriptively in comparison with the actual trial results. All experimental group participants will receive exclusive maternal human milk or donor human milk prior to randomization. Once randomized, patients in Group One will receive an exclusive human milk diet throughout the 28-day feeding period or until hospital discharge, whichever comes first. Patients in Group Two (Control Group) will receive maternal human milk or formula (per standard of care). Fortification will be implemented with a standard protocol.