Objective: this study attempts to determine effects abdominal massage could have on feeding tolerance in preterm infants hospitalized in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) in certain hospitals of Isfahan in 2015.
Study design: randomized controlled trial.
Study population: the population consisted of infants who were hospitalized in the NICU, were in the 28-32 week-old age range, weighed 1000-1800 grams, and had all inclusion criteria.
Inclusion criteria:
infants should be in the 28-32 week-old age range; infants should weigh1000-1800 grams; infants who have a medical prescription for a daily feeding of at least 20 cc/kg; infants who are breastfed; infants who suffer from feeding intolerance; infants should have no history of ileus (gastrointestinal atony), abdominal surgery, or any other problem forbidding them to receive abdominal massage; infants should be fed through the orogastric tube; parents should give consent to the examination of their infants; preterm infants should never suffer from major congenital anomalies such as congenital heart disease, digestive-system disorders, hypoxic injury, respiratory failure with mechanical ventilation, history of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), or (suspected) sepsis; preterm infants should show no symptoms of intracranial hemorrhage; preterm infants should never need a ventilator.
Exclusion criteria: parents’ withdrawal for infants’ participation in the study; infants’ discharge or death before the end of the intervention period; infants’ becoming unwell in the course of illness and during the study, which would interfere with the intervention for any reason.
Sample size: 64 (32 in the intervention group and 32 in the control group).
Study intervention(s): abdominal massage.
Primary outcome variables: gastric residual volume, abdominal circumference, vomiting frequency, and defecation frequency.