A STUDY TO ASSESS THE LEVEL OF FEEDING PERFORMANCE AMONG PRETERM BABIES IN GOVERNMENT HOSPITAL IN KUZHITHURAI, TAMIL NADU

Abstract

Introduction: Preterm birth also known as premature birth is the birth of a baby at less than 37 weeks of gestation. Preterm babies are not fully prepared to live in the world outside their mother’s womb. When babies are born prematurely, their digestive systems may not be fully developed. As a result, many of these small infants experience feeding difficulties such as problems establishing nipple feedings at breast or with the bottle. Methodology: Descriptive research approach was adopted using descriptive research design. The sample consisted of 30 preterm babies with poor feeding performance .The samples were collected by using the non -probability convenient sampling technique. The level of feeding performance was assessed with the help of modified early feeding skill assessment scale for preterm babies. Results: Majority of 15 (50%) preterm babies had poor feeding performance, 12 (40%) preterm babies had average feeding performance and 3 (10%) had good feeding performance. It was not possible to compute chi-square test to find out the association between level of feeding performance and their socio-demographic variables, as the expected values are less than 5. Conclusion: The overall study clearly showed that there were poor and average feeding performances of preterm babies.