Food transition in premature newborn children: interfering factors

ABSTRACT Purpose: to check the variables which interfere in the transition from the alternative way of feeding to the beginning of proper oral mode. Methods: 30 preterm newborns from a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) participated, with initial weight of 1,500 grams, interned between May and July 2018. The study of the medical records of babies was performed in relation to comorbidities such as length of stay, weight, gestational age, use of mechanical ventilation, as well as quantitative and correlational analysis of the data. Results: among the participants, 27 newborns began being fed in an orogastric manner and three, in a nasogastric way, and in some cases, artificial nipples were used. The average of gestational age coincided with the possibility of the proper via oral feeding. The longest time of transition was exactly with the newborns who had had clinical complications. Conclusion: the clinical complication interfered in the time and prevalence of the alternative way of feeding during the process of food transition which, associated with the use of artificial nipples, may have interfered in the early weaning and in the failure of exclusive breastfeeding.