Feeding Problems Score and Its Related Factors in Two-Year-Old Children Born Very-Preterm and Full-Term

BACKGROUND: Many very-preterm infants have difficulty in oral feeding during the first months of life after discharge. Since studies surveying the presence of feeding problems after the first year of life are limited and cultural/psychosocial differences can affect results, so the aim of this study was to compare scores of a feeding problems test between very-preterm and full-term born children at the age of 2 and study the relationship between obtained scores and explanatory variables. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This is a retrospective descriptive-analytic study conducted in 2014 in Semnan city of Iran. Thirty-eight 2-year-old children with the history of very-preterm birth were selected by census sampling method and 38 full-term babies born in the same hospital were selected randomly. The Iranian version of Lewinhson Feeding Disorders questionnaire was used and the relationship between explanatory variables and the total score of the questionnaire was surveyed in each group by Mann-Whitney and linear regression tests. RESULTS: Mean (SD) gestational age and weight of birth were 30.47 (1.63) weeks and 1630 (310) grams respectively in the very-preterm group. Feeding scores were not significantly higher in very-preterm babies, neither in total score (p > 0.05) nor in subtests. A relationship was just found between total feeding score and female gender both in the exposed group (β = −0.36, p = 0.01) and non-exposed group (β = −0.49, p = 0.002). CONCLUSIONS: Two-year-old children born very preterm did not have higher feeding problems scores than full-term born peers. Male gender was related to more feeding problems at 2 years of age.