Nipple Shield Effect on the Volume of Milk Intake in Premature Infants

Receiving insufficient volume of milk in premature infants is a major concern for the mothers and the medical team. Nipple shield is a breastfeeding aid that increases the volume of milk intake in preterm infants. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of nipple shield on volume of breast milk intake in premature infants.
In this semi-experimental before and after study, 60 preterm infants who were admitted in NICU, using convenience sampling, were selected. At the beginning they were placed in control and then experimental group. In control group, they were breastfed by mothers and in experimental group they were breastfed with nipple shield by mothers. Mean of milk intake in two groups was measured and compared by test weighing method. An infant was weighed before and after a feed and the calculated difference in weigh was assumed to be equivalent to the volume intake of milk in milliliters.
Result showed that there was significant statistical difference between average of milk intake with and without using of nipple shield (4.5±2.48 vs. 3.14±1.86, 0.0001).
Using nipple shield can increase milk intake in breastfeeding premature infants. It seems to be necessary to use nipple shield in NICU in order to increase the volume of milk intake.