The effects of the early oral feeding on preterm infant's length of hospital stay

The nutrition value of breast milk has been shown to provide a positive benefit for preterm infants such as improving immunity, reducing morbidity, and may affect preterm infants’ length of hospital stay. However, lack of evidence in Indonesia that supported a correlation between early oral feeding and preterm infants’ length of hospital stay. Therefore, this study was intended to investigate the correlation between early oral feeding using breast milk with preterm infants’ length of hospital stay and investigate the moderator variables. An observational method was used as the study design. Data were retrieved from medical records from one hospital belonging to Central Java Province that is located in Purwokerto Town, Banyumas Regency, Central Java Province, Indonesia using a self-designed data collection sheet. The sample involved a convenience sample of 96 preterm infants who were treated in level 2 and 3 neonatal cares. Univariate analysis, Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, Spearman's Rank were used as the statistical analysis. The early oral feeding had a weak positive correlation with preterm infants’ length of hospital stay after was controlled by infants’ gestation and birth weight (r=.371, p=