General Information
About the Trial
EXPRESS was a multi-centre randomised trial for mothers expressing breastmilk for their very preterm babies (born at less than seven months of pregnancy). The trial randomly allocated half the mothers to listen to a specially designed recording while expressing milk. All mothers received normal care and advice on expressing milk. The recording was designed to help mothers relax and feel connected to their baby or babies. The trial recruited 132 mothers of very preterm infants in four United Kingdom neonatal units.
The aim of the trial was to see if listening to the recording increases the amount of milk mothers and to breastfeed. It also looked at whether mothers listening to the recording feel less anxious or distressed.
The study was sponsored by the University of Oxford, and run by the National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit, Clinical Trials Unit (NPEU CTU) at the University of Oxford. It formed part of a PhD for Dr Ilana Levene, the Chief Investigator.
The study was funded by the National Institute of Health Research, Clinical Doctoral Fellowship award 300895. It was approved by Bloomsbury Research Ethics Committee (ref.21/LO/0279). It was registered as ISRCTN 16356650.
Protocol
