Impact of maternal feeding practices on neonates born to mothers infected with COVID-19: a retrospective cohort study in Sichuan Province.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the impact of different feeding methods on the manifestation of novel coronavirus infection symptoms in newborns following maternal infection with the novel coronavirus. RESULTS: Among the 257 mother-infant pairs, participants were categorized into three groups according to feeding method: the direct breastfeeding group (n = 125), the bottle-feeding with expressed breast milk group (n = 87), and the artificial feeding group (n = 45). No statistically significant differences were observed in the maternal clinical manifestations of COVID-19 across the three groups (p > 0.05). Importantly, none of the newborns in any of the three groups exhibited symptoms of SARS-CoV-2 infection either during hospitalization or during the one-week follow-up after discharge.