Feeding Ability

Abstract: Objective: To examine the natural history of feeding skills in babies with clefts and identify risk factors and predictors of poor feeding. Participants: Sixty-two babies with clefts were examined at 2 weeks, 3 months, and 14 months of age. Main Outcome Measures: Feeding ability, oral motor function, and feeding efficiency were assessed. Univariate analyses were used to determine whether oral motor function and sequelae varied according to feeding ability or cleft condition. Multivariable logistic regressions were used to determine risk factors for poor feeding. Results: Poor feeding skills were detected in one third of newborns. The prevalence of poor feeding reduced to 19% at 3 months of age and 15% at 14 months of age. Oral motor dysfunction and sequelae (particularly nasal regurgitation) were more commonly observed in babies with poor feeding skills irrespective of comorbidity. The main risk factor for poor feeding was a diagnosis of syndrome or Pierre Robin sequence (PRS). At 2 weeks of age,...

Abstract: The feeding problems of demented elderly people are well documented and the need for research into the assessment of feeding difficulty and intervention by nurses has been raised. The present paper reviews the literature in this area of care and outlines the problems which exist in attempting to investigate the feeding difficulty of demented patients. Demented elderly people display a range of behaviours related to feeding including excessive eating in the early stages of dementia and then difficulty with feeding, refusal to eat and, finally, inability to self-feed at all. The problems with research in this area revolve around the issue of measurement of feeding difficulty. There are problems in deciding what to measure and in how measurements should be made which are clinically meaningful. A possible strategy for investigating the feeding difficulty of demented elderly patients is suggested which includes the design of a tool for measurement and the application of single-case studies. Any tool which is used for measurement should enable researchers, in the first instance, and then clinicians to categorize the feeding difficulty of individual patients. Moreover, such a tool should also be sufficiently sensitive to respond to change in feeding ability. The single-case methodology is considered to be the most ethically and statistically appropriate for research with this particular group of patients.

Abstract: Ontogenetic changes in feeding performance on four prey types were studied in the eastern newt, Notophthalmus viridescens, to test two hypotheses about functional changes in aquatic feeding during development. The hypothesis that the ontogenetic transformation from a unidirectional to bidirectional feeding system results in a decrease in feeding performance is corroborated by comparing the aquatic feeding ability of larvae and efts. Feeding performance in fully transformed and branchiate adults does not support the hypothesis that retention of larval components of hyobranchial morphology in branchiates results in increased aquatic feeding performance.

Abstract: The impact of delayed feeding early in development on late feeding ability and development of spotted sand bass Paralubrax maculatofasciatus larvae was examined. Larvae were sampled from hatching until day 19 after delayed feeding for zero (control), 1, 2, or 3 days. Feeding incidence was evaluated as the percentage of larvae with food in the gut and feeding intensity was measured by direct counting of prey after dissection of the gut. Delayed feeding effects due to starvation were observed early in development. By day 5, significant differences (P < 0.05) were observed between controls and larvae submitted to degrees of delayed feeding, including total length (LT), eye diameter, and the size of the head, liver, gut, muscles and body. Differences were still apparent in L T , and body, liver and muscle heights at the end of the studied period. Larvae under total starvation did not survive beyond day 5. Initial feeding incidence was 35, 60, 90 and 10% for larvae first fed on day 2, 3. 4 or 5, respectively. Mean ± S.D. feeding intensity was 3.6 ± 0.8, 2.8 ± 1.3, 5.2 ± 0.3, and 10.2 ± 1-5 rotifers per larva depending on whether larvae were initially fed on day 2, 3, 4 or 5, respectively. The point of no return occurred between 4 and 5 days after hatching.