Abstract
Objective Breast milk is the best food for newly born infants because it is more digestible and can relieve infants' gastrointestinal burdens. The purpose of this study was to investigate the application effect of abdominal acupoint massage on feeding intolerance in premature infants. Methods A total of 50 premature infants with feeding intolerance admitted to our hospital from January 2018 to October 2019 were selected and randomly divided into the control group (n = 25) and the experimental group (n = 25). Among them, the premature infants in the control group received routine therapy, while based on the treatment in the control group, the premature infants in the experimental group were treated with abdominal acupoint massage. After that, the incidence of feeding intolerance, MNA nutritional status score, body mass, development state, length of hospital stay, and response rate were all compared between the two groups to analyze the application effect of abdominal acupoint massage on feeding intolerance in premature infants. Results The incidence of feeding intolerance of the premature infants in the experimental group was significantly lower than that in the control group, with statistically significant differences (P < 0.05); the MNA nutritional status scores of the premature infants in the experimental group were significantly higher than those in the control group, with statistically significant differences (P < 0.05); the body mass and development state of the premature infants in the experimental group were significantly better than those in the control group, with statistically significant differences (P < 0.05); the length of hospital stay of the premature infants in the experimental group was significantly shorter than that in the control group, with statistically significant differences (P < 0.05); the response rate in the experimental group was significantly higher than that in the control group, with statistically significant differences (P < 0.05). Conclusions Abdominal acupoint massage therapy can significantly reduce the incidence of feeding intolerance, shorten the length of hospital stay, and improve nutritional status, development state, and response rate in premature infants, with obvious therapeutic effect, which is worthy of application and promotion in clinical practice.
Highlights
Without full-term birth, premature infants are prone to malnutrition, maldevelopment, and other health problems, compared with fetuses born at term [1,2,3]
Quite a few premature infants suffer from feeding intolerance, which is mainly manifested by gastric retention, abdominal distension, etc., and lack attention to this disease which may lead to severe gastrointestinal diseases in infants [3,4,5]. e leading causes of feeding intolerance include congenital gastrointestinal diseases, dysphagia, and sucking disorders, and there have been so many studies on analyzing the causes of feeding intolerance in premature infants, which come with a variety of solutions [6, 7]
After different therapies for premature infants in both groups were performed for 1 month, the incidence of feeding intolerance in both groups was compared, and the results showed that the premature infants in the experimental group only had slight abdominal distension after feeding, and the symptoms relieved significantly after massage, while the premature infants in the control group still had gastric retention, abdominal distension, and vomiting
Summary
Without full-term birth, premature infants are prone to malnutrition, maldevelopment, and other health problems, compared with fetuses born at term [1,2,3]. Breast milk is more digestible and can relieve infants’ gastrointestinal burdens; besides, breast milk contains some immune factors, which can effectively prevent immune diseases in infants. Feeding intolerance can cause a series of short-term and long-term adverse effects. Quite a few premature infants suffer from feeding intolerance, which is mainly manifested by gastric retention, abdominal distension, etc., and lack attention to this disease which may lead to severe gastrointestinal diseases in infants [3,4,5]. E leading causes of feeding intolerance include congenital gastrointestinal diseases, dysphagia, and sucking disorders, and there have been so many studies on analyzing the causes of feeding intolerance in premature infants, which come with a variety of solutions [6, 7].
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