The Effect of Different Feeding Methods on Infants

Aydin Adnan Menderes University

Status: Completed

Conditions: Sucking Success; Preterm Infants; Finger; Nursing Caries; Injector

Treatments: Behavioral: syringe feeding; Behavioral: Finger Feeding

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT06737796

Adnan Menderes Univercity

Details and patient eligibility

About

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of finger feeding and syringe feeding methods on infant weight, time to full oral feeding and breastfeeding success in preterm infants.

H01: There is no difference between the weights of preterm babies fed by finger and by syringe.

H02: There is no difference in the transition time between finger-fed and syringe-fed preterm babies to full oral feeding.

H03: There is no difference between breastfeeding success between finger and syringe feeding methods.

Full description

The study was conducted as a parallel groups randomized experimental study. The study was conducted between December 1, 2021 and June 1, 2023 in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of Aydın Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital. The sample included preterm infants with 320/7-366/7 gestation weeks who were receiving care and treatment in the neonatal intensive care unit. In the sample, n=38 infants were randomly assigned to study group 1 and n=36 infants to study group 2 and the study was completed with n=74 infants. The data were collected using the Preterm Infant Information Form, Preterm Infant Follow-up Form and LATCH Breastfeeding Diagnostic Measurement Tool. The babies selected for the study group were fed with the method of whichever study group they were added to (finger or syringe feeding) at three feeding meals each day. After switching to full oral feeding, breastfeeding success was measured with the breastfeeding diagnostic measurement tool (LATCH), which was used when the infants first held the breast and the time of transition to full oral feeding. The difference between groups was analyzed using Mann Whitney U analysis for non-normally distributed data and the difference between groups for normally distributed data was analyzed using independent two sample t test. Homogeneity of variances was assessed by Levene's test. Since the standard error indicates the spread of the means of the samples selected from the same population and the standard deviation indicates the distance of each individual in the group from the mean, the standard error values were given together with the means in the analyses comparing the group means.

Enrollment: 74 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 32 to 37 weeks old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Having a gestational age between 32 weeks and 36+6 weeks,
• Weighing 1500 g or more,
• Having spontaneous breathing (can receive free oxygen, incubator oxygen),
• Those who have been fed only by gavage or parenterally and are ready to switch to oral feeding,
• Preterm babies whose parents were literate in Turkish and gave consent were included in the study.

Exclusion criteria

• Those who were fed orally before the research,
• Those who need noninvasive mechanical ventilation such as CPAP,
• Babies with metabolic diseases were excluded from the study.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Supportive Care

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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74 participants in 2 patient groups

experimental 1

Experimental group

Description:

Preterm babies in the finger feeding group, which constituted the study group, were finger fed by the neonatal intensive care nurse responsible for the baby's care, three times a day for no more than 20 minutes. If babies had breast milk during feedings, breast milk was given first. Formula milk was used when breast milk was not available. The amount of milk that the preterm baby should receive, determined by the neonatal specialist physician, was completed after the planned 20 minutes of feeding time and at other feeding meals during the day, according to the clinic's feeding protocol. In addition, preterm babies have three meals a day; Heart rate, respiration and saturation before and after feeding, and evaluation of feeding duration, amount of feeding and vomiting at the end of feeding were recorded in PBIF. The Preterm Baby Monitoring Form, which was planned to be used at this stage, was filled out by the neonatal intensive care nurse or the researcher.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Finger Feeding

experimental 2

Experimental group

Description:

Preterm babies in the syringe feeding group, which constituted the other study group, were fed with a syringe three times a day for no more than 20 minutes by the neonatal intensive care nurse responsible for the baby's care. If babies had breast milk during feedings, breast milk was given first. Formula milk was used when breast milk was not available. The amount of milk that the preterm baby should receive, determined by the neonatal specialist physician, was completed after the planned 20 minutes of feeding time and at other feeding meals during the day, according to the clinic's feeding protocol. In addition, preterm babies have three meals a day; Heart rate, respiration and saturation before and after feeding, and evaluation of feeding duration, amount of feeding and vomiting at the end of feeding were recorded in PBIF. The Preterm Baby Monitoring Form, which was planned to be used at this stage, was filled out by the neonatal intensive care nurse or the researcher.

Treatment:

Behavioral: syringe feeding