There is a good article by Diane Spatz (Children's Hospital Philadelphia) that was in a NANN journal in 2009
It is copied and pasted below. I also have a sample hospital policy if you want to email me off list.

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NANN E-News Special bulletin

The Use of Colostrum and Human Milk for Oral Care in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
Diane L. Spatz, PhD RNC FAAN, and Taryn M. Edwards, BSN RNC
 
The benefits of human milk and breastfeeding have been well documented in the literature (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2005; Ip et al., 2007). Vulnerable infants who begin their life in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) may benefit most from receiving human milk. Therefore, nurses who work in the NICU must prioritize care to include assisting mothers with the initiation and maintenance of milk supply. The period while the infant may be nil per os (NPO) is a particularly critical time for both the establishment of milk supply and the collection of colostrum for future use. Nurses should assess a mother's pumping regimen and milk yield daily (Spatz, 2004).
 
Colostrum, the first milk that is produced, is known to contain proteins, amino acids, cytokines, and immunoglobulin A. The anti-inflammatory and pro-inflammatory cytokines in human milk help protect the vulnerable infant against infectious organisms. More recently, the pancreatic secretory trypsin inhibitor (PSTI) has been discovered in both colostrum and mature milk (Marchbank, Weaver, Nilsen-Hamilton, & Playford, 2009). PSTI was shown to have protective effects on gastric mucosa and facilitated gastric repair if the mucosal lining was damaged.
 
Because of the critical importance of colostrum, nurses must take special care to collect and store all colostrum and teach family members about the significance of this milk. It is helpful for mothers to pump into smaller collection containers made specifically for this milk. For example, Medela packages sterile 35-milliliter containers with a concave shape that allows even the smallest amount of colostrum to gather at the bottom. The smaller size of these containers is less intimidating to a new pumping mother and sends the message to parents that colostrum is produced only in small amounts (on average no more than 30 milliliters during the first 24 hours after delivery). Any drops of colostrum should be saved for current or future use.
 
Rodriguez and colleagues (Rodriguez, Meier, Groer, & Zeller, 2008) introduced oropharyngeal administration of colostrum for extremely-low-birth-weight infants. Oropharyngeal administration does not involve the infant's swallowing any of the milk. During this intervention, a small amount of the liquid is placed directly onto the oral mucosa in the buccal cavity for absorption via the mucosa. The theoretical background for this practice is systemic absorption of the cytokines and PSTI through the buccal cavity, which provides protection against infection as well as protection of the gastrointestinal tract. In addition, human milk is a rich source of oligosaccharides. Oligosaccharides are able to destroy bacteria, viruses, and fungi. The mouth of an infant who is breastfeeding directly at the breast is continually coated with human milk. By administering milk orally before the infant can begin enteral feeds and before the infant can orally feed, the nurse gives the infant that same benefit of coating the oral mucosa that the infant who is breastfeeding receives.
 
Implementing this practice in your NICU is relatively simple. In our NICU, we request that mothers bring their fresh (never frozen) colostrum to the NICU in order to be able to start oral care prior to freezing. Colostrum and mature milk can be stored up to 48 hours in the refrigerator and then placed in the freezer to be saved for the initiation of enteral feeds. The bedside nurse teaches the parents how to perform oral care with colostrum and mature milk. A sterile swab is dipped into the colostrum or mature milk. The swab should absorb all drops of colostrum or be saturated when there is ample colostrum or mature milk. The parent is then instructed to take the swab and coat the entire buccal mucosa with the colostrum or milk. This can be done for stable infants who are NPO, as well as for those infants who are unstable and who require ventilatory support and possibly extracorporeal membrane oxygenation.
 
Minimally, oral care with human milk (colostrum or mature milk) should be done once daily. If the mother is present and is pumping at the bedside in the NICU, it is ideal to perform oral care every 2-3 hours following each pumping session. One can also provide mouth care with human milk by dipping the pacifier in the milk if the infant is unable to perform nonnutritive sucking at the breast. Oral care with human milk should continue until the infant is able to take feeds by mouth (ideally at the breast and/or bottle).
 
This state-of-the-art research may decrease the risk of infection and protect gastric mucosa during a possibly long NPO status. In addition, infants appear to enjoy oral care with human milk, and parents welcome the opportunity to be able to provide a distinct aspect of care while their infant is critically ill.
 
References
American Academy of Pediatrics, Section on Breastfeeding. (2005). Breastfeeding and the use of human milk. Pediatrics, 115(2), 496-506.
 
Ip, S., Chung, M., Raman, G., Chew, P., Magula, N., DeVine, D., et al. (2007, April). Breastfeeding and Maternal and Infant Health Outcomes in Developed Countries. Evidence Report/Technology Assessment No. 153, AHRQ Publication No. 07-E007. Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Retrieved September 4, 2009, from www.ahrq.gov/downloads/pub/evidence/pdf/brfout/brfout.pdf.
 
Marchbank, T., Weaver, G., Nilsen-Hamilton, M., & Playford, R. J. (2009). Pancreatic secretory trypsin inhibitor is a major motogenic and protective factor in human breast milk. American Journal of Physiology--Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology, 296, G697-703.
 
Rodriguez, N. A., Meier, P. P., Groer, M. W., & Zeller, J. M. (2008). Oropharyngeal administration of colostrum to extremely low birth weight infants: Theoretical perspectives. Journal of Perinatology, 29, 1-7.
 
Spatz, D. L. (2004). Ten steps for protecting and promoting the use of human milk and breastfeeding in vulnerable infants. Journal of Perinatal and Neonatal Nursing, 18(4), 385-396.
 
Diane Spatz is Helen M. Shearer Term Associate Professor of Nutrition and associate professor of healthcare of women and childbearing nursing at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, and a clinical nurse specialist and lactation consultant at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA. Taryn Edwards is a clinical nurse III in the NICU at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

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