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Cardiovascular responses to feeding in the neonate during the first four days of life
M Cohen1, D R Brown, M M Myers
1Department of Pediatrics, Newark Beth Israel Medical Center, NJ 07112, USA.
Insights
Newborn infant cardiovascular responses to feeding, including blood pressure and heart rate increases, do not change in the first four days of life. The magnitude of blood pressure changes during feeding correlates with nutrient intake volume.
Area of Science:
- Neonatal Physiology
- Cardiovascular Regulation
- Infant Nutrition
Background:
- Breast and bottle feeding in newborns elicit acute cardiovascular responses.
- These responses include notable increases in blood pressure and heart rate.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between infant age and cardiovascular responses during feeding.
- To determine if the volume of nutrient intake influences cardiovascular responses in newborns.
Main Methods:
- Assessed cardiovascular responses (blood pressure, heart rate) in newborn infants during feeding over the first four days of life.
- Correlated changes in systolic blood pressure with nutrient intake volume during the initial feeding phase.
Main Results:
- The amplitude of cardiovascular responses to feeding remained consistent across the first four days of life.
- A significant positive correlation (r = +0.75, p < 0.01) was observed between increased systolic blood pressure and nutrient intake volume.
Conclusions:
- Infant age within the first four days does not significantly alter feeding-related cardiovascular responses.
- Nutrient intake volume is a key factor contributing to individual variability in blood pressure increases during infant feeding.
Abstract:
Prior work has demonstrated acute cardiovascular responses associated with breast and bottle feeding of newborn infants that consist of increases in both blood pressure and heart rate. This current study sought to determine if the amplitude of these responses is related to the age of the infant and/or the amount of nutrient ingested during the study period. Results show that the magnitude of the feeding responses does not change over the first four days of life. In a second study it was found that changes in systolic blood pressure during feeding are positively correlated with volume of nutrient intake during the initial phase of feeding (r = +0.75, p < 0.01). These results suggest that some of the individual variability in the increase in blood pressure during feeding is related to the amount of nutrient ingested. It is not known whether these differences are due to differences in sucking effort or other aspects of feeding efficiency.