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Comparison of Time Taken for Feeding Stable Preterm Babies Between Regular Nurse Feeding and Feeding with Feed Rail-A
Deepti Thandaveshwara1, Sushma Krishnegowda1, Aditya Batra1
1Department of Pediatrics, JSS Medical College, JSS Academy of Higher Education and Research, 70, PRAKRUTHI, BEML 2nd Stage, Rajarajeshwari Nagara, Mysuru, Karnataka, 570022, India.
Objective:
To compare the variation of feeding rate and time taken for feeds between manual and automated feeding via feed rail.
Methods:
Stable preterm babies weighing between 1 and 2 kg, on partial or full enteral feeds via gavage were randomized into gravity and feed rail feeding group, respectively. Ten nurses and 4 babies were paired to form 40 nurse-baby pairs for the study. Forty feeding events in each groups were recorded.
Results:
The median duration of feeding in the feed rail group was 18.5 min compared to 15 min in nurse-led feeding (p = 0.34). Feeding rate corrected for bodyweight ranged between 0.8 and 2.3 mL/kg/min in the feed rail group compared to 2.5 and 8.9 mL/kg/min in the control (manual gravity feed) group. This difference in the feed rate variation was statistically significant (p value of <0.0001). The median feed rate with feedrail was 1.3 mL/min as compared to 4.1 mL/min with manual gravity feeds. During the feed rail feeding, nurses were hands-free for 80% of the time.
Conclusion:
Feed rail feeding results in slow, sustained, and minimal variation in gravity feeding at a rate of 1 to 2 mL/kg/min without affecting the feeding duration compared to manual nurse-led feeding.
Trial Registered:
Clinical Trials Registry India (CTRI/2020/06/025958).
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