Nursing habits in cleft lip and palate children

Resumo

Cleft lip and palate anomalies are malformations
that affect patients causing some alterations. These alterations can
compromise maternal nursing and lead to early introduction of
bottle feeding and sugar in the diet of cleft lip and palate infants,
compromising their oral health and the surgical/rehabilitation process.
Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the nursing
habits and the use of baby bottles in a group of cleft lip and palate
infants. Material and methods: Two hundred and twenty nine
mothers of cleft lip and palate infants in the age range from 6 to
36 months enrolled in the Hospital for Rehabilitation of Craniofacial
Anomalies – USP/Bauru were interviewed. It was obtained data on
family socioeconomic characteristics as well as mother educational
level using the patient’s file. Using a pre-structured questionnaire
accomplished always by the same interviewer, information on natural
and artificial nursing pattern was obtained. Results: Only 21.4% of
the mothers accomplished breastfed their babies. 98.25% of mothers
used bottle feeding with milk and other sucrose liquids at one to
ten times frequency. Nocturnal nursing habit was verified in 59.38%
of total sample. Conclusion: Cleft lip and palate infants presented
inadequate nursing habits in relation to both the content and the
frequency ingestion, suggesting the need of a multidisciplinary
guidance and following-up of infants during this age range.