A Unique Clinical Tool for the Evaluation of Oral Feeding Skills in Infants.
Sandra Fucile, Kimberly Dow
PMID 36314405WHAT IT FOUND
In 16 premature infants, adding a nipple monitoring device to bottle feeds did not change feed duration, intake volume, or rate of transfer compared with feeds without it, and no adverse events occurred.
Key findings
01Adding the nipple monitoring device to one bottle feed and comparing it with a second feed without the device did not produce a statistically significant difference in feed duration, intake volume, or rate of transfer.
02No episodes of apnea, bradycardia, or oxygen desaturation occurred during the monitored feeding sessions.
03During the first five minutes of monitored feeds, the device recorded suction amplitude −16.2 ± 14.2 mmHg, sucking burst duration 9.2 ± 3.3 seconds, suck count 9.7 ± 2.6, and sucking rate 1.1 ± 0.26 sucks per second.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study was a pre-experimental pilot in 16 clinically stable infants, so it cannot show how the device performs in more medically complex infants or larger populations. Only bottle feeds were tested, not breast feeds, so the results do not establish safety or utility during breastfeeding. The two feeds were not always given by the same feeder; mothers, a father, and nurses fed the infants, which may affect comparisons. The paper did not formally test reliability or validity of the device, and the sucking values were only compared descriptively with prior literature. The study did not gather formal feedback from parents or providers about using the tool.
Declared interests
Funding was provided by the University Hospitals Kingston Foundation – Innovation Fund.
The easy way to misread this
Do not treat this as proof that the nipple monitoring device is a validated clinical test for oral feeding difficulty. It was a pilot in 16 stable infants, only bottle feeds were tested, and reliability and validity were not formally established.