Diurnal rhythms in melatonin and cortisol in very preterm human milk (opens in new tab)

IntroductionHuman milk (HM) contains bioactive compounds and hormones vital for infant neuro- and circadian-development. While healthy term-born infants receive time-of-day cues naturally through breastfeeding, preterm infants in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) are typically fed with pooled expressed milk via tube feeding, which lacks time-of-day specificity. Despite growing interest in chrononutrition and circadian entrainment in the NICU, little is known about diurnal hormonal rhyth...