This study examined the effect of breast milk on oral care practices in neonatal intensive care units.
Methods:
This study involved 64 preterm infants (intervention/breast milk: 32, control/distilled water: 32) and was carried out with a prospective, parallel, randomized controlled design. The “Newborn Oral Health Assessment Tool (NOHAT)” was used to assess oral care. The Mann–Whitney U test, continuity correction test, Fisher’s exact test, independent-samples T test, and Wilcoxon signed ranks test were used to analyze the data.
Results:
Examining the oral care performed using breast milk and distilled water with NOHAT scores, it was determined that there was a significant difference in the intervention group (p < 0.05).
Conclusions:
It is recommended to use breast milk for oral care.
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