Positive Feeding of the Preterm Infant

Positive Feeding of the Preterm Infant - a Feasibility Study of a Developmental Supportive Feeding Strategy in the NICU

The goal of this feasibility study is to assess the feasibility to implement a feeding strategy for preterm infants.

The main questions it aims to answer are:

• Is it feasible to implement the PoP-intervention in a level 3a category Neonatal intensive care unit?
• Is the PoP-intervention acceptable for parents of preterm infants and health care personnel working in Neonatal intensive care unit?

Parents of preterm infants and health care personnel will be asked to follow a protocol of a feeding strategy based on the preterm infants development and cues throughout the NICU-stay.

The parents will be recruited before or as soon as possible after birth. The intervention will start as soon as the parents have given written consent for themselves and behalf of their infant.

The intervention is developed in line with the MRC framework of developing and evaluating complex interventions in an iterative and dynamic way. The intervention will be based on parents counseling and an infant feeding protocol.

Inclusion Criteria:

• gestational age of 28 weeks
• post menstrual age of 28 weeks after transition from regional hospital

Exclusion Criteria:

• diagnoses or malformations that makes eating difficult
• triplets or more
• parents not speaking/understanding Norwegian or English
• parents with challenges or special needs for follow up