A Comparative Study of Two Infant Feeding Tools: The Nifty Cup and The Paladai

Abstract

Objective: The World Health Organization recommends that infants unable to feed directly at the breast in low resource settings be cup fed with hand expressed breastmilk. No standard feeding cup exists. The aim of this study was to evaluate the design of the Nifty cup, a newly designed feeding cup, as compared to the paladai and to assess acceptability among mothers and health care providers.

Methods: This study was conducted at Sri Ramachandra Medical Center and Research Institute in Chennai. Eligible caregivers were primary caregivers of infants who were less than 12 mo old, born prematurely or with an oral cleft, and who were fed by cup. Health care providers who prescribed cup feeding for infants at least 4 times in the past year were also eligible. Caregivers and health care providers fed each infant with a paladai and a Nifty cup. They completed an interviewer-administered survey. The design and acceptability parameters of the Nifty cup were compared to those of paladai using a Wilcoxon signed rank test.

Results: Forty three caregivers and 28 health care providers were enroled. Among caregivers, the Nifty cup as compared to the paladai was less problematic on most parameters including spillage, regurgitation, difficulty in use, and duration of feeding (all p-values <0.01). Findings were similar for health care providers.

Conclusions: The Nifty cup is a promising feeding cup for feeding infants with breastfeeding difficulties to support growth and nutrition.

Keywords: Breast milk; Breastfeeding difficulties; Cup feeding; Low resource setting; Nifty cup; Paladai.