Promoting safe and effective feeding for infants and children : improving thickener guidelines at Children's Mercy Hospital
No Thumbnail Available
Authors
Meeting name
Sponsors
Date
Journal Title
Format
Project
Subject
Abstract
Feeding represents one of the most essential occupations for development, yet for infants born premature or with complex medical conditions, feeding may require skilled intervention. Since infants obtain their nutrition solely through liquid, safe and effective feeding highly depends on the coordination of sucking, swallowing, and breathing. Occupational therapists are uniquely suited to address feeding issues by educating caregivers and implementing feeding interventions. Thickeners are often used to adjust the consistency of liquids to facilitate a safe swallowing motor pattern. However, thickener is associated with increased variability in guidelines and protocols within practice. Research indicates it is difficult to thicken infant formula or breast milk due to the many variables that affect thickener efficacy. As part of an ongoing quality improvement initiative at Children's Mercy Hospital (CMH), I addressed key concerns related to thickener use through my Doctoral Capstone Experience by creating a spreadsheet to consolidate thickener information and streamline access to recipes. I established new thickened formula recipes and analyzed thickening trends across a variety of formulas with different nutritional characteristics by collecting data comparing how incremental adjustments in thickener impact the resulting level of thickness. Results found that that more precise liquid measurement methods can achieve a more desirable consistency and that formulas with higher sugar content may require additional amounts of thickener to achieve a target result. In conclusion, understanding the underlying variables affecting thickener allows for therapists to make more informed clinical decisions and promote safe and effective feeding practices.
Table of Contents
DOI
PubMed ID
Degree
OTD