Factors contributing to preterm infant engagement during bottle-feeding.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Preterm infants have difficulty maintaining engagement throughout early oral feedings, which can lead to less efficient feeding and prolonged feeding skill development.

Objective

To examine contributions of the infant, mother, and feeding context to infant engagement during bottle-feeding.

Methods

Bottle-feedings of very-low-birthweight infants (n = 22) by their mothers were observed. Infant and maternal behaviors were coded and synchronized with physiologic measures. At completion of the feeding, the mothers were interviewed, and their working model of feeding coregulation was scored. Feedings were subdivided into feeding episodes (n = 114). Using multilevel linear regression analyses, four dyadic characteristics (working model of the caregiver's role as c

SUBMITTER: Thoyre SM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4336780 | biostudies-literature | 2004 Sep-Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature