Studying preterm infants in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at St. Louis Children’s Hospital, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis found that preemies whose daily diets were at least 50 percent breast milk had more brain tissue and cortical-surface area by their due dates than premature babies who consumed significantly less breast milk. Pictured is a premature infant in the NICU at St. Louis Children's Hospital.
Because babies born prematurely are still developing, they typically have smaller brains than full-term infants. Shown are depictions of the cortical-surface area of the brain at different points in gestation.