Promoting Enteral Tube Feeding Safety and Performance in Preterm Infants: A Systematic Review
International Journal of Nursing Studies
Lin, T., Hu, J., et al. (2022).
International Journal of Nursing Studies, 128, 104188.
This systematic review explores the effects of various nursing practices on feeding safety and performance in preterm infants with enteral feeding. Findings relevant to the field of speech-language pathology are included within this summary.
No funding received
From database inception to January 2020
Randomized controlled studies, crossover studies, quasi-experimental prospectively controlled studies, pre- and post-test designs, and historic/retrospective control group studies
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<div>Findings demonstrated that oral motor stimulation was associated with reduced hospital length of stay and reduced transition times from tube feeding to oral and/or spoon feeding. Limited evidence was noted to support favorable effects of oral motor stimulation on weight outcomes.</div>
<div>Findings demomstrated that non-nutritive sucking was associated with positive outcomes in total weight gain, reduced hospital length of stay, and reduced transition time from tube feeding to full oral and/or nipple feeding. Limited evidence was noted to support the positive impact of non-nutritive sucking on daily weight gain and total tube feeding days.</div>
<div>Findings demonstrated that olfactory stimulation was associated to no significant change in weight gain. Limited evidence with moderate to serious risk of bias was noted to support the association between olfactory stimulation and reduced hospital length of stay and reduced transition time from tube feeding to oral feeding.</div>
<div>Findings demonstrated limited evidence to support the association between tactile stimulation provision and improvements in frequency of vomiting, gastric residual volume, and daily weight gain. No differences in feeding intolerance were noted following tactile stimulation programs. Further research is needed due to an overall paucity of research.</div>
<div>Findings demonstrated limited evidence to support the association between combined olfactory and tasting stimulation on weight at discharge. Further research is indicated due to an overall paucity of existing high quality research.</div>
<div>Findings demonstrated limited evidence to support that swallowing stimulation with 0.05-0.2 ml milk boluses was associated with reduced time to full independent oral feeding. Further high quality research is indicated.</div>
<div>Mixed resulted from a limited number of studies were noted regarding the use of supplementary oral feeding. Spoon feeding being associated with lower age of infants at transition to breast feeding but higher time to transition from tube feeding to breast feeding. Syringe feeding was associated with reduced hospital length of stay and reduced transition time from tube feeding to breast feeding when compared to bottle feeding. Due to an overall paucity of evidence, further research is indicated.</div>
