Friends,

A quick intro first as I am new on Lactnet:

Liz Johnson, LLL leader in Massachusetts, accredited 8/95. 1 Child,
daughter, 5. Single mom due to domestic violence, self & daughter doing
fine now. Also full-time college student (rather old); psych major.
Volunteer in community education as well as LLL: meetings, phone, e-mail
help & Hotline. More later.

Re the req for sources on benefits of mother's milk in NICU:

I have many sources cited in my book, Mohrbacher, N. & Stock, J. 1997.
The Breastfeeding Answer Book, revised ed. Schaumberg, IL: La Leche
League.

This book appears to me as a very good resource, for professionals as
well as lay counselors. An entire section is devoted to prematurity.
Some selected studies include:

Buescher, E. Host defense mechanisms of human milk and their relations
to enteric infections and necrotizing enterocolitis. Clin Perinatol
1994; 21(2):247-62

Uauy, R. et al. Effect of dietary omega-3 fatty acids in retinal
function of very-low-birth-weight neonates. Pediatr Res 1990; 28:485-92

Whitelaw, A. et al. Skin-to-skin contact in the care of very low birth
weight babies. Mat Child Health 1896; 7:242-246

Mathur, N. et al. Anti-infective factors in preterm human colostrum.
Acta Paediatr Scand 1990; 79:1039-44

Lucas, A. et al. Early diet in preterm babies and developmental status
in infancy. Arch Dis Child 1989; 64:1570-78

There are many more. This book has about 80 references unter the
prematurity chapter. E-mail me if you want others. I will be happy to
find a source for a specific topic.

Hope this helps.

Love from Liz in very snowy Worcester, MA