Création d'une « Échelle de comportement alimentaire de l'enfant prématuré vers une alimentation au biberon » (ECEPAB).

Orality is an essential axis in the care of severely premature children. Therefore, the quality of breastfeeding for bottle-fed children is one of our main concerns with regard to the food empowerment process. The observation of the skills necessary to the sucking/swallowing/breathing coordination can help when picking the feeding strategy adapted to the maturation of the premature newborn. We did not find a clinical tool for this assessment. The objective of this study was to create a behavioral observation scale and prove its reproducibility in intra and inter-observer time. We carried out a prospective monocentric study including children born before 33 weeks of strict amenorrhea (N =65). The inter-observer reliability tests have resulted in an excellent agreement between healthcare professionals (Kappa coefficient of 97%). The scale seems very reproducible and can be used to identify the skills of newborns and allow the evaluation of the quality of bottle-feeding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]