Comparison of Feeding Behaviors in Preterm Infants at Six Months Corrected Age and Term Infants in Zahedan

This study compares feeding behaviors and problems of in term Infants and preterm infants at 6 months corrected age.

The study was of observational-sectional type (descriptive and analytic) and sampling was one-step cluster probability of the available population in the form of the whole number. Feeding behaviors of 90 infants, including 60 term infants and 30 preterm infants, were assessed by speech and language pathologists through interviews with parents and recorded in a questionnaire. The information in this questionnaire includes feeding behaviors, feeding problems, feeding period, infant weight at 2, 4, 6 months and the age of the child to start complementary feeding . SPSS software version 24 was used to analyze the data. In all the present study, P value less than 5% was considered as a significant level.

The results showed that the two groups were significantly different in the mean score of feeding behavior (p = 0.001), feeding problems (p = 0.047) and weight gain (p <0.001). While in feeding duration (p = 0.53) and Frequency of feeding (p = 0.1) there was no significant difference. Of the 90 infants studied, more than 80% of them started feeding in the form of puree in the age group of 4-6 months.

Conclusions:

 Premature infants have more feeding problems and less weight gain than normal infants. It is recommended that the speech and language pathologist evaluate and intervene appropriately for oral skills and nutrition of premature infants admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit.