PD914 - ACCEPTANCE OF DONOR HUMAN MILK AMONG PARENTS IN GERMANY – PRELIMINARY RESULTS OF A DESCRIPTIVE COHORT STUDY

PD914

ACCEPTANCE OF DONOR HUMAN MILK AMONG PARENTS IN GERMANY – PRELIMINARY RESULTS OF A DESCRIPTIVE COHORT STUDY

J. Will^1,*, R. M. Visscher^2,3, L. Heymel¹, M. Otter¹, S. Lessinnes¹, S. Kus^2,3, M. Coenen^2,3, E. Schouten⁴, M.-T. Hey⁴, A. W. Flemmer⁴, L. Sehn⁵, M. Schmid⁵, U. Fischer⁵, A. Tannen¹

¹Institute of Clinical Nursing Science, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, ²Institute for Medical Information Processing Biometry and Epidemiology, Chair of Public Health and Health Services Research, LMU Munich, ³Pettenkofer School of Public Health, ⁴Dr. von Hauner Children’s Hospital, ⁵Clinical Nursing Research and Quality Management Unit, LMU Hospital , Munich, Germany

Rationale: The WHO recommends donor human milk (DHM) for very low and low birth weight infants without mothers´ breastmilk (World Health Organization, 2023). This study investigates the acceptance of parents regarding milk donation.

Methods: The WELCOME study is a duo-centered RCT that will recruit 240 families with preterm and newborn infants with special health care needs from August 2025 to February 2027. The intervention group additionally gets telehealth consultancy. The study is supported by the Federal Joint Committee (Sehn et al. 2025). The present sub-analysis focuses on parental acceptance of DHM. The influence of  migration-background is explored. Data is collected with a standardized questionnaire before (t0) and after discharge (t1-t3).

Results: As of now, 59 families (n=66 infants) are included. After discharge, the rate of exclusive breastfeeding is increasing (t0: 44%, t3: 52%), whereas the amount of expressed milk is decreasing (mean t0: 478 ml, mean t3: 138 ml). A total of 81% are aware of milk donation, while 69% actually feed or would feed DHM. About 7% have been donating breastmilk. The migration history makes no difference on the acceptance rate of DHM. 

Conclusion: The awareness is higher than the willingness. Few mothers have donated in spite of sufficient milk supply. Qualitative research is essential to understand the rationales. 

References: Sehn, L., Otter, M., Will, J., Visscher, R. M. S., Kus, S., Coenen, M., Flemmer, A. W., Schouten, E., Tannen, A., & Fischer, U. (2025). WELCOME: Digital transition of premature and newborn infants with special care needs to postdischarge care - study protocol for a randomised controlled duo-centred study. BMJ open, 15(10), e104346. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2025-104346

World Health Organization. (2023). Donor human milk for low-birth-weight infants [Online]. Available: https://www.who.int/tools/elena/interventions/donormilk-infants [Accessed].

Disclosure of Interest: None declared