Parental experience learning to feed their preterm infants
Emily E Stevens1, Elizabeth Gazza, Rita Pickler
1Nursing Program, Chatham University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (Dr Stevens); School of Nursing, University of North Carolina, Wilmington (Dr Gazza); and Nursing Science, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Ohio (Dr Pickler).
Insights
Parents learn to feed preterm infants in the NICU through an emotional, technical process. Nurses are crucial in guiding parents through positive and negative feeding experiences.
Area of Science:
- Neonatal care
- Parental education
- Infant feeding
Background:
- Limited research exists on parents' experiences learning to orally feed their preterm infants in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).
- Understanding this process is vital for supporting families during a critical developmental period.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore parental learning experiences in feeding their preterm infant orally within the NICU.
- To gain a deeper understanding of the process parents navigate when learning to feed their vulnerable infants.
Main Methods:
- Phenomenological approach to explore the depth of parental experience.
- Semistructured interviews conducted with 20 parents (12 mothers, 8 fathers) of medically stable preterm infants.
- Participants recruited from a university-affiliated hospital's level III NICU.
Main Results:
- Parents described feeding as an emotional experience, involving both positive and negative feelings.
- Learning to feed was characterized as an ongoing process where nurses played an instrumental role.
- The technical aspects of feeding a preterm infant required specialized skills and attention.
Conclusions:
- Nurses are essential in supporting parents by validating their emotions and recognizing learning needs.
- Effective parental learning involves acknowledging the emotional spectrum of feeding and providing technical guidance.
- Nurses can enhance feeding success by teaching and demonstrating appropriate techniques to parents.
Purpose:
Although extensive research has been conducted on preterm infant oral feeding, few investigations have examined parents' experiences learning to feed orally their preterm infant while in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). As such, the aim of this study was to explore parental learning experiences to gain a better understanding of the process parents use in learning to feed their preterm infant.
Subjects:
Parents included in the investigation were 18 years of age or older with a medically stable preterm infant who was less than 36 weeks' gestational age at birth, free of congenital malformations, and feeding orally.
Design:
This investigation used phenomenology to explore the depth and richness of parental experience with the process of learning to feed orally their preterm infant.
Methods:
Participants were recruited from a university-affiliated women's hospital with a level III NICU. Purposive sampling was used to ensure that all participants were familiar with the experience of interest. Data collection consisted of personal interviews, which were conducted in a private consultation room located within the NICU. In instances where both the infant's mother and father chose to participate, the interviews were conducted separately on the same day.
Main Outcome Measures:
Twelve mothers and 8 fathers participated in semistructured interviews. For 8 mothers and 6 fathers, this was their first child. This was the first preterm infant for all participants. From the parental experience, the following 3 themes were identified: an emotional experience, learn as you go, and it is technical.
Principal Results:
Parents noted that feeding encompassed both positive and negative emotions, that learning was a process that nurses played an instrumental role in, and that feeding a preterm infant could be very technical, requiring extra skills for feeding success.
Conclusions:
Nurses can play a key role in helping parents learn by acknowledging both positive and negative feelings about the feeding process, recognizing parents' learning needs, and by teaching and demonstrating appropriate feeding techniques.
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