Associação entre uso de complemento alimentar nos primeiros dias de vida e presença de sintomas gastrointestinais em lactentes

Abstract

Introduction: Breast milk is the best food for infants; however, in some situations, especially when delivery was by cesarean section, it is necessary to complement the newborn feeding in the first days of life. There are doubts whether the use of complementary formula to breast milk in the first days of life could be associated with the onset of gastrointestinal symptoms in infants. Objectives: To investigate the association of dietary supplements in the first 10 days of life for term neonates born by elective cesarean section with the mother's report about infantile colic and vomiting/regurgitation in the first three months of life and the diagnosis of cow's milk allergy and gastroesophageal reflux in the first six months of life. Methods: A cohort study included term neonates delivered by cesarean section at Moinhos de Vento Hospital, a private hospital located in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, from October 2011 to April 2013. Initial data were obtained from medical records and interviews with the mothers in the recovery room. Follow-up was done by telephone contact with the mothers at the end of the second week, at three months and at six months after birth. The factors under study were breastfeeding, prescription and use of food supplements, and type of prescribed formula. These variables were obtained for the first 48 hours of life, the first 10 days of life and for the first three month of life. The study outcomes were the occurrence of colic and vomiting/regurgitation reported by mothers in the first three months of life, as well as diagnosis of cow's milk allergy and gastroesophageal reflux in the first six months of life. Data were analyzed with the chi-square or Fisher's exact test using SPSS version 17.0. To control confounding factors, the Poisson multivariate regression was used. The significance level was 5% (p ≤ 0.05). Results: Nine hundred and sixty-four infants were studied, of whom 657 (68.1%) were exclusively breastfeeding, 215 (22.3%) had mixed feeding and 92 (9.5%) were fed only formula at the age of three months. Three hundred and seventy infants (38.4%) had frequent vomiting/regurgitation and 741 (76.9%) had colic, of which 382 (39.7%) were of medium/high intensity. The use of complementary formula in the first 10 days of life was not significantly associated with the studied outcomes. However, the type of feeding by three months of life was associated with some of these outcomes: infants not breastfed at all within the three months had fewer reports of vomiting, relative risk (RR) 0.63; confidence interval (CI) 0.45 to 0.89 95% (p = 0.009), and less colic, RR 0.65; 95% CI 0.46 to 0.94 (p = 0.022). Among these infants, a higher proportion was fed anti-regurgitation formulas. Partially breastfed babies had more maternal reports of colic, RR 1.22; 95% CI 1.03 to 1.45 (p = 0.024). At six months of life, 2.0% of the infants had diagnosis of cow's milk allergy and 3.1% had gastroesophageal reflux, outcomes that were associated with the type of feeding at three months but not at 10 days of life. Conclusions: In this population of infants born at term by cesarean section, there was no association between the use of formula supplements in the first 10 days of life, or the type of formula used in this period, and the incidence of colic and vomiting/regurgitation in the first three months of life, or the diagnosis of cow's milk allergy or gastroesophageal reflux in the first six months of life. However, the type of infant feeding at the end of the third month of life was associated with some of the study outcomes.