Standardization of Physiological Parameters during Breastfeeding in Healthy Term Neonates

Seydkalateh P

Published on: 2022-06-24

Abstract

Background and Objectives: The birth of premature babies has increased worldwide. Nutritive disorders, such as sucking and swallowing problems, are extremely common in these infants and needs for a clinical tool to assess these problems is felt more than ever. The aim of this study was to introduce a tool to assess oral motor skills and standardize characteristics of sucking in healthy neonatal.

Methods: we enrolled 223 infants breastfeeding from the Maternity Ward of Shahid Sayyad Shirazi Hospital, Gorgan, Iran from April to September in 2021. Then, the neonatal swallowing skills (maximum sucking pressure, number of sucking) we reassessed using swallowing skill assessment device. We estimated the 95% confidence interval of the maximal sucking pressure and the number of sucking in normal distribution.

Results: Of 223 infants, 112 (50.2%) were female, 176 (74.9%) were born by cesarean section, and their mean birth weight was 3154.48±371.48. The maximum sucking pressure was -6.82 confidence interval (CI) 95%: (-13.21, -3.52) in infants. The mean number of sucking was 6.74 with a confidence interval of 95% (2.23, 20.37).

Conclusions: Regarding this data and high prevalence of sucking disorders in preterm infants worldwide, we can use this data along with oral-motor skill assessment tool to assess infant sucking status in hospitals, clinics, and home visits.