Elsevier

JOGN Nursing

Volume 8, Issue 5, September 1979, Pages 265-272
JOGN Nursing

Nonnutritive Sucking During Tube Feedings: Effect on Clinical Course in Premature Infants

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1552-6909.1979.tb00960.xGet rights and content

Fifty‐nine infants, 28–34 weeks'gestation, were assigned to treatment and control groups. Treatment infants were offered a pacifier during and following every tube feeding; control infants received routine care. The treatment began when an infant could tolerate room air and 10 cc of full‐strength formula by tube; it ended when the infant was totally bottle fed. Treated infants showed readiness for bottle feeding 3.4 days earlier, i.e., with 27 fewer tube feedings each. Performance during the first bottle feeding was assessed with a feeding scale and was statistically similar for both groups. From study entry to fast bottle feeding the treated infants gained 2.6 gm/day more and were discharged 4 days sooner. Complications differed between the two groups.

Section snippets

Sample

The subjects were premature infants at 28-34 weeks’ gestation,”‘ who weighed more than 1,000 gm at birth, and for whom informed parental consent had been obtained (Table 1 and 2). All infants meeting these selection criteria were entered into the study when they were able to tolerate room air and 10 cc of full-strength formula by tube. Seventy-three infants were selected from the neonatal units of two Detroit hospitals. Routine care in both nurseries was very similar.

Exclusion criteria were: a)

RESULTS

Analysis of variance was done with weight on DOE as the covariate. Premature infants who received sucking opportunities during and following every tube feeding were given their first bottle feeding an average of 3.4 days earlier than infants in the control group (P < .05), and received 27 fewer tube feedings each (P < .05). The treated infants gained 2.6 gm more per day, but this difference was not significant. The treated infants were hospitalized four days less (P < .025) from DOE to

DISCUSSION

Our results suggest that nonnutritive sucking opportunities offered during and following tube feedings may facilitate the clinical course of premature infants. This treatment is a practical one in terms of safety, time, simplicity, and expense. The treatment appears to be safe in that tcpO2 levels rise during, and continue rising or remain the same following, eight-minute sucking opportunities.15 Additional time spent giving the treatment is negligible, because a nursery staff member must be

Acknowledgments

During the period of the research, the first author was supported by National Institutes of Health Biomedical Research Grant BR 070511 and the second author, by Grant NU 00547 from the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. The authors gratefully acknowledge Eleanor Corey, assistant professor of Nursing, Indiana University, whose ideas and earlier work were one source of impetus for this research, and Jean E. Johnson, Director of the Center for Health Research, Wayne State

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