Influence of Cup Feeding on Infant Nutrition Output and Comfort on 34 Week and Above Newborns

Aim:Alternative feeding methods have been developed for preterm and newborn babies who have not reached the mother for various reasons but will not forget to suck.One of them is feeding with cups.Our research; Observing the physiological parameters, oral flushing and feeding time (feeding outcomes) during the feeding of the cups at 34 weeks of gestation and above infants is a research conducted to evaluate the post feeding comfort and nurses' views about nutrition. Materials and Methods: This is a cross-sectional, descriptive and semi-experimental study.It was administered in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of Behçet Uz Children's Diseases and Surgery Training and Research Hospital at between 15.01.2019 – 15.04.2019. 43 newborns who were 34 weeks and over and 43 nurses who were working in the neonatal intensive care unit for more than 1 year were found to comply with the inclusion criteria. The data were collected by "Case Report Form", "Nursing Opinion on Cup Feeding", " Observation Form", "Newborn Comfort Behavior Scale" and "Nurse Cup Feeding Skill Assessment Checklist". Results: 81.4% (n = 35) of the nurses stated that they did not feed a baby before. Nurses' views of feeding the cup were positively influenced by the cup-feeding training and cup-feeding experience. repetitive ANOVA test results according to the number of feeding peaks; There was no difference between the first, second, third feeding heart apnea, respiratory numbers, and oxygen saturation; however, the change in heart rate, respiratory rate and oxygen saturation before, during and after all feeding were found to be statistically significant, and this was similar in all three feeds. The mean score of the cup after feeding was found to be a comfortable process for babies. Conclusion: As a result of our research, it has been revealed that cup feeding is comfortable for babies, the prejudices of nurses about feeding with cup at the end of education and experience are broken and baby's experience increase has no effect on feeding outcomes.