Researchers Find a Way to Ease Oral Feeding in Premature Infants

Researchers have found a way to facilitate oral feeding in low-birth weight infants.

The study, being conducted at the USDA/ARS Children's Nutrition Research Center at Baylor College of Medicine, looked at 171 infants born 26 to 29 weeks after conception.

"We used a specially designed apparatus that measured how much pressure the baby was applying to the nipple and how much breast milk or formula was flowing through it," says Dr. Robert Shulman, a Baylor professor of pediatrics and director of the nutrition support team at Texas Children's Hospital. "We found that it is easier for premature infants to ingest milk if they regulate the flow of milk out of the nipple themselves by squeezing off the nipple.

Premature infants cannot leave the hospital until they can take all of their feedings independently either by breast or bottle. Generally, premature infants are not bottle-fed until 34 weeks after conception because they cannot coordinate sucking, swallowing, and breathing to eat. Traditionally, when bottle feeding begins, the bottle is tilted so the milk pressure produces a continual drip in the infant's mouth.

"We believe letting infants regulate the milk flow themselves will help them learn how to coordinate sucking, swallowing, and breathing," says Dr. Shulman. "It will allow infants to pace themselves and decide when it's time to take a breather from swallowing milk."

- From the USDA/ARS Children's Nutrition Research Center at Baylor College of Medicine

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Courtesy of Texas Medical Center News

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©2006 Texas Medical Center

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