The Effect of Breast Milk Smell on Nutrition in Preterms

The Effect of Breast Milk Smell on Early Feeding Cues, Transition Period to Oral Nutrition and Abdominal Perfusion in Preterm Newborns

The study was planned to determine the effect of breast milk odor applied during gavage feeding on early feeding cues of preterm newborns, the transition time to oral feeding and abdominal perfusion.

It is known that nutrient odors stimulate the initiation of digestion. However, in preterm newborns who are fed by gavage or parenterally, exposure to the nutrient smell that initiates digestion disappears. For this reason, it is known that odor stimulation is applied to preterm newborns to improve nutrition. It is known that fragrances such as fragrant essential oils, the smell of breast milk, and amniotic fluid have positive effects such as shortening the transition time to oral feeding in preterm newborns, increasing nutritional tolerance and weight gain, increasing hunger symptoms, providing analgesic effect in painful procedures, and reducing hospital stay. However, no study was found to jointly evaluate the effect of odor stimulation with breast milk on early nutritional cues, transition time to oral nutrition and abdominal perfusion in preterm newborns.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Born at 28-36 weeks of PW
• Birth weight >1000 gr
• 1. and 5. Apgar score average per minute ≥ 6
• Gavage method used in nutrition
• Intermittent infusion method used in nutrition,
• Not receiving mechanical ventilation / CPAP support,
• No medication or treatment is administered by the nasal route,
• Without nasal obstruction,
• Have not received any established medical diagnosis

Exclusion Criteria:

• Drugs that affect gastrointestinal function (drugs that facilitate gastric emptying and gastrointestinal passage of nutrients by increasing gastrointestinal tract motility, and drugs that reduce gastrointestinal tract motility)
• Newborns without breast milk
• Continuous infusion or parenteral feeding method is used in nutrition