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The clinical effect of pacifier use on orogastric tube-fed preterm infants: A randomized controlled trial.

OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the clinical effect of pacifier use on orogastric tube-fed preterm infants.


METHODS
The non-blinded randomised controlled study was conducted between October 2014 and November 2015 at the neonatal intensive care unit of a large public-sector hospital in Ankara, Turkey, and comprised preterm infants aged 31-36 gestational weeks with a birth weight of 1000g or above who had no congenital or neurological disease and were fed by orogastric tube. Through computer-generated simple randomisation, the subjects were divided into pacifier (intervention) and non-pacifier (control) groups. SPSS 17 was used to analyse data and compare the groups.


RESULTS
There were 28 subjects; 14(50%) in each of the two groups. There was no difference between the groups in terms of gender, gestational age, birth weight, length, and head circumference (p>0.05). There was no difference in the weekly head, length, or girth measurements in the groups (p>0.05). In terms of daily weight gain, the intervention group gained 7gm more than the control group (p<0.05). The suction action of the pacifier group started earlier than the control group (p<0.001).


CONCLUSIONS
Preterm infants using pacifiers started total oral feeding earlier, gained more weight, and were discharged earlier than the control group.