Nancy, thank you for your response and the references. I plan to look up the more recent articles to read. I think your post puts an emphasis on good hand washing and clean technique of both the mother and staff. I agree with Rachel that the key word appears to be "contaminate" and not necessarily the breastmilk itself. I would like to know more about the organisms from mom's with mastitis for assistance in the future of mothers in our NICU. Are you talking about the very small, fragile preemie as compared to the level II preemies? I understand the aseptic technique needs to be the same but what I want to know if the organisms from a mother's infection affect the bigger preemie the same? Thanks, Ann Perry RN IBCLC Boston, MA *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html