Cup Feeding Versus Other Forms of Supplemental Enteral Feeding for Newborn Infants Unable to Fully Breastfeed
Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews
Flint, A., New, K., et al. (2016).
Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2016(8), Cd005092.
This updated systematic review investigates the impact of cup feeding as compared to other forms of enteral feeding to supplement newborn infants who are unable to fully breastfeed.
The Cochrane Collaboration; Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development National Institutes of Health; National Institute for Health Research (United Kingdom)
This systematic review is an update from: <br />
<ul>
<li><span style="color: #333333;">Flint, A., New, K., & Davies, M.W.. Cup feeding versus other forms of supplemental enteral feeding for newborn infants unable to fully breastfeed. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2007(2), CD005092. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD005092.pub2</span></li>
</ul>
From database inception to January 31, 2016
Randomized control trials and quasi-randomized controlled trials
5
Findings demonstrated that cup feeding was associated with infant weight gain for pre-term infants within the first week of intervention in a limited number of studies (2 of 5), however these gains were not statistically significant (Low Quality of Evidence). Mixed findings were noted for a majority of breastfeeding outcomes with the exception of exclusive breastfeeding at three and six months, which favored cup feeding (Very Low Quality of Evidence). No conclusions regarding the use of cup feeding in full term infants can be made due to a paucity of evidence. Of note, " [i]n the studies included in this review, it is reported that many infants who were to receive supplemental feeds by cup received supplemental feeds by other means as either the parents or nurses did not like cup feeding" (p. 5). Limitations to this review include low to very low quality of evidence, risk of bias, and heterogeneity between studies. Further research is needed.
