Vrste in načini hranjenja ter alergije na hrano otrok na otroškem oddelku Univerzitetnega rehabilitacijskega inštituta - Soča
Types and ways of feeding and food allergies of children at the Children's Department of the University Rehabilitation Institute in Ljubljana, Slovenia

slovenian

2014

volume 13, issue 2

Allergy and Immunology   Child   food   nutrition   types of feeding   ways of feeding

Univerzitetni rehabilitacijski inštitut RS – Soča
(Obvezni izvod spletne publikacije)

Background: Healthy and appropriate nutrition contributes to health, wellbeing and child development. The feeding mode depends on the child's medical condition. Food allergies can additionally hinder feeding of children. We wanted to analyse how many children, hospitalized at the Children's Department of the University Rehabilitation Institute in Ljubljana, Slovenia, were able to feed with a normal consistency of food, how many needed adjusted food consistency diet, and how many had nasogastric tube or percutaneous gastrostomy. We also wanted to know how many children had food allergies. Methods: We used a structured interview with questions about feeding mode, diet adjustments and possible allergies. We included 300 children, hospitalized at the Children's Department in the period from September 2012 to December 2013. Descriptive statistical methods were used. Results: Out of the 274 included children, 1 % had percutaneous gastrostomy and 1.6 % had nasogastric tube due to feeding and swallowing difficulties; 19 % of the children needed some adjustments of food consistency: 12 % needed pureed food and further 7 % needed mashed food. Allergy to different foods was present in 7.3 % of the children. Conclusion: A notable proportion of the children hospitalized at our Institute have feeding and/or swallowing problems. The gathered data will help us plan an educational program for team members and develop more detailed comprehensive rehabilitation programs for children with feeding and swallowing problems to ensure their adequate nutritional status.

12.02.2015