Effect of Kangaroo Mother Care and Prone Position on Feeding Intolerance, Physiological Parameters, and Comfort among Preterm Neonates

: Background: Preterm neonates have an increased vulnerability to feeding intolerance problem and distress in Neonatal Intensive care unit, and they considered the most common significant donators to neonates’ growth retardation. therefore, it is pivotal for neonatology nurses to detect this condition as early as possible and find effective intervention for confronting this problem to enhance neonates’ outcomes. Kangaroo Mother Care and prone positions are therapeutic nursing modalities that may be effective for the protection from feeding intolerance and improve neonates’ comfort in NICU. This study aimed to investigate the effect of kangaroo mother care and prone position on gastrointestinal intolerance, physiological parameters, and comfort in preterm neonates. A quasi-experimental research design was conducted to this study . Setting: This study was conducted in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Alexandria University Children’s Hospital (AUCH) at Smouha in Alexandria. Sampling : A convenience sample of 60 preterm neonates more than 130000 gm. hospitalized in NICU from March 2020 to March 2021.Four tools were used to collect the necessary data for this study: Tool1 : Preterm Neonates’ Characteristics and Their Mothers Assessment Record, Tool II: feeding intolerance and NEC risk–scoring tool, Tool III: feeding intolerance assessment sheet and Tool IV: COMFORT neo scale. Results : statistically significant differences were found between the 1st day and 3 rd day concerning feeding intolerance parameters in the study group regarding the means of the abdominal circumference (P=0.000), the frequency of vomiting episodes (P=0.000), the frequency of defecation (P==<.001) and daily weight gain (P=.003). Additionally, improvement in the neonates’ gastric residual volumes among both groups of study with no statistically significant differences were found. KMC and prone positions recorded more stability in physiological parameters than control group in the study. Fortunately, intervention group exhibited high significant comfort levels on three days of study in comparison with control group (P= 0.000). It is concluded that KMC and prone positions may reduce preterm neonates’ gastric residual volume, frequency of vomiting episodes, and abdominal circumferences while increasing their daily weight gain and frequency of defecation. This study advised NICU nurses to emphasize the value of applying KMC and prone positions as a safe non-invasive intervention for preterm neonates.