Background: The growing evidence of the benefits of skin to skin (STS) care shown by different studies has encouraged us to study the possibility of introducing this technique as part of the management in babies with CHD.
Aim: The aim of this study was to examine the effect of STS care during breastfeeding and artificial feeding on the vital signs of babies with congenital heart disease admitted to hospital with heart failure.
Methods: Fifty five infants under one year with congenital heart disease were divided according their mode of feeding into 19 exclusively breastfed, 21 formula fed and 15 mixed fed for comparison. Their oxygen saturations (P02), heart rate (HR) and respiratory rates (RR) were monitored before and during a session of feeding, then measured again after a period of STS care by the mother. The anxiety state of the mother was measured also before and after feeding with STS care using the STAI test fo anxiety state.
Results: Babies who were breastfeeding exhibited significantly higher levels of P02 at start of the feed than the formula fed ones and it continued to rise decreasing at about 8 minutes then rising again at the end of the feed. The P02 of formula fed did not rise during a feed and fell at 6 minutes. The P02 patterns improved with STS and remained stable and high in both breastfed and formula fed, but remained statistically significantly higher in the breastfed. HR initially rose than decreased to physiological levels in both breastfed and formula fed but decreased with STS. The anxiety state of mothers who were formula feeding was moderately high among the breastfed but moderately and severely high among formula fed. |
