Oral Feeds Prior to Stage 1 Surgery Toolkit
Intended Audience
Usually, the team involved with feedings consists of the following people:
Dietitians: Will help your baby’s growth through all the stages of the surgeries.
Lactation consultant: Will work with mom to establish and improve milk supply, provide education with pumping, and help with direct breastfeeding.
Feeding therapist: Will usually assess your baby’s oral skills to be sure they are swallowing safely. They will assess your baby’s latch to the breast or help bottle-feed. This could be an occupational therapist, speechlanguage pathologist or physical therapist depending on your hospital staff.
Bedside nurse: Will help assess feeding cues and assist with feeding as needed.
Cardiologist, ICU physician, nurse practitioner or surgeon: Will decide if baby is medically stable for oral feeding.
Section Outline
Section 1: Description of Preoperative Feeding Best Practices
Feeding Cues
Description of Universal Preoperative Feeding Pathway
Preoperative Feeding Q&A - Addressing misconceptions and concerns
Section 2: Parent Engagement & Collaboration
Section 3: Measurement
Suggested measures (Oral Feeding Prior to Stage 1 SPC chart, Outcome, Process, and Balancing Measure Chart)
Section 4: Acknowledgements
Materials & Resources
Parent/Clinician Videos
The NPC-QIC Oral Feeds Prior to Stage 1 Surgery Toolkit
The Preoperative Feeding Project was established to improve the quality of life for infants with single ventricle heart disease and their families by increasing opportunities for nutritional and neurodevelopmental oral feeding experiences prior to Stage I surgical palliation. According to data from the NPC-QIC in 2021, 54% of patients with single ventricle disease receive enteral feeding experiences prior to Stage I surgical palliation. Of the 56 centers contributing data to NPC-QIC, over 90% reported allowing pre-operative oral feeding, up from 25% in 2016. The Oral Feeds Prior to Stage 1 Surgery Toolkit is designed to provide expert guidance on identifying candidates for preoperative feeding and instituting a preoperative feeding protocol.
Click here to access the NPC-QIC Oral Feeds Prior to Stage 1 Surgery Toolkit
“If you talk to other heart moms, you will hear that the biggest struggle is feeding. Most babies, if not all, go home on some form of feeding tube and it will be up to your team and you to decide which one works best for your little one. Don’t feel discouraged by this, it is only temporary. As
your little one starts recuperating, it will become easier to wean off the tubes. Work closely with your team to set up a goal.””