Analysis of the percentage of waste from human milk and child formulas in neonatology service

Abstract

Objective: to evaluate the waste of breast milk and infant formula in a neonatology service. Method: cross-sectional study, carried out from June to December 2019 in a maternity school in Natal-RN. The descriptive analysis of continuous variables was performed by median and percentiles. For categorical variables, the analysis was performed using absolute and relative frequencies. The Mann-Whitney test and the Chi-square test were applied. Result: there was a greater waste of infant formula in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (p <0.01) and the most common justification for not using the formula was the need for a procedure in neonates. Conclusion: considering the importance of breast milk and infant formula for newborns hospitalized in the units studied, we warn that greater control of the distributions of these diets is necessary due to the impact on child health and hospital costs