Oxygen Saturation and Heart Rate During Feeding in Breast-Fed Infants at 1 Week and 2 Months of Age

Suiter DM, Ruark-McMurtrey J. Oxygen saturation and heart rate during feeding in breast-fed infants at 1 week and 2 months of age. Objective: To gather normative data about cardiopulmonary changes during feeding in breast-fed infants at 1 week and 2 months of age. Design: Prospective cohort study. Setting: General community. Participants: Twenty-two term-born, breast-fed infants. Interventions: Not applicable. Main Outcome Measures: Oxygen saturation (Spo₂), the percentage of oxygenized hemoglobin, and heart rate were monitored and recorded every 30 seconds for 5 minutes before oral feeding, during the first 10 minutes of feeding, and the first 10 minutes immediately after feeding. The observations were made at 1 week and 2 months of age. Results: Mean Spo₂ levels were significantly higher in 2-month-old infants (mean, 97.57) than in 1-week-old infants (mean, 96.35) (P=.001). Spo₂ was not affected by any of the 3 trials (before, during, and after feeding). Heart rate was significantly affected by trial. Mean heart rate during feeding (mean, 152.45) was significantly higher than heart rate prefeeding (mean, 146.51) (P<.001), and heart rate postfeeding (mean, 147.12) (P=.002). Heart rate was not affected by age. Conclusions: Little is known about the association between feeding and cardiopulmonary status in term-born, breast-fed infants. This longitudinal study contributes to our knowledge about feeding-related cardiopulmonary changes in term-born, breast-fed infants.