Cup Versus Bottle Feeding for Late Preterm Infants

October 30, 2008 updated by: Cairo University

Cup Versus Bottle Feeding for Hospitalized Late Preterm Infants in Egypt

The purpose of the current study is to investigate the effect of using cup feeding for preterm infants during NICU stay on breastfeeding outcomes after discharge. The following hypotheses are being tested:

  1. Infants Fed by cup during NICU stay will have higher breastfeeding proportions than infants fed by bottle
  2. Infants fed by cup during NICU stay will have higher breastfeeding behaviour score on the Preterm Infant Breastfeeding Behavior Scale than infants fed by bottle

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

The provision of breast milk is essential for preterm infants as it provides unique health benefits that are unmatched by other types of feeding [1-3]. However, breastfeeding presents unique challenges for preterm infants that include establishing and maintaining the mothers' milk supply and transitioning the infant from gavage feeding to breastfeeding [4]. One of the issues that presents during the transition to breastfeeding is that mothers of preterm infants are rarely available for all oral feedings during hospitalization; this makes it necessary for infants to receive oral feedings by other method, usually bottle feeding.

However, exposure of newborn infants to artificial nipples has been strongly associated with breastfeeding problems [5-9]. Frequently these problems have been explained by phenomena called nipple confusion. Nipple confusion occurs when infants are exposed to two different feeding methods, bottle and breast, resulting in the infant refusing to breastfeed. Consequently, it has been recommended that bottle feeding be avoided and that cup feeding be used for the supplementation of term as well as preterm infants.

Cup feeding is known as an alternative method of feeding breast milk to an infant using a small cup without a lip. Cup feeding is also recommended by the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative.The use of cup was originally based on the goal of avoiding propping of bottles and also to increase bodily contact with the mother during feeding. Although cup feeding receives little mention in medical literature, and may seem to be a new technique for some, it has been used in several developing as well as developed countries. Lang, who observed cup feeding in South Nepal, implemented cup feeding in England and the practice expanded to other developed countries. Consequently cup feeding was established as a method for feeding infants who could not be breastfed from birth.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

60

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Egypt
      • Cairo, Egypt, 00000
        • Peiatric University NICU

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

7 months to 8 months (Child)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Singleton birth
  • 34 to 37 weeks of gestation at birth
  • Maternal intention to breastfeed
  • Fed only by tube feeding

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Infants who had any condition interfering with oral feeding
  • Infants with craniofacial anomalies
  • Infants with intracranial hemorrhage

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
  • Allocation: Non-Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: I
Group one received feeding by bottle as the standard method of feeding in the NICU
Device: Bottle Feeding
receiving all feeding by bottle
Other Names:
  • bottle feeding group
Experimental: II
Group 2 received all feeding by cup
Device: Cup Feeding
using a cup feeding technique for feeding the preterm infants during NICU stay
Other Names:
  • Cup-feeding Group

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Breastfeeding Proportion
Time Frame: one week
one week

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Cairo University

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Amel M Abouelfettoh, PhD, RN, Cairo University

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

December 1, 2003

Primary Completion (Actual)

August 1, 2004

Study Completion (Actual)

August 1, 2004

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

September 19, 2008

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 19, 2008

First Posted (Estimate)

September 22, 2008

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

October 31, 2008

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

October 30, 2008

Last Verified

September 1, 2008

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 2004

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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