Breast milk feeding data

Please note that 2022 breastmilk feeding plots will be available from 12th October 2023.

These plots describe the feeding status of babies born at less than 32 weeks gestational age while inpatients on a neonatal unit. The plots show the number of babies (on the vertical axis) who were fed with breastmilk, and alternatives, for each day of life (on the horizontal axis). The timing of discharge is denoted by a solid black curved line separating the green colour segments. The purpose of these plots is to illustrate how practice varies between ODNs and units, and to stimulate focussed quality improvement activity. An example plot of a hypothetical unit is given below to illustrate feeding practices in a unit with high breastmilk use that exceeds the NNAP developmental standard of 80%. of babies receiving any of their mother’s own milk at discharge home from the neonatal unit.

These graphs are only available for 2019, 2021 and 2022 data.

For 2019 data, charts are published for units with at least 100 babies in the data. For 2021 and 2022 data, charts are published for units with a least 70 babies in the data.