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Updated: Aug 2, 2026
Preterm EEG: A Multimodal Neurophysiological Protocol
Published on: February 18, 2012
Detecting motor abnormalities in preterm infants
C M Craig1, M A Grealy, D N Lee
1UMR Mouvement et Perception, Université de la Méditerranée, Marseille, France. craig@laps.univ-mrs.fr
Insights
Preterm infants
Area of Science:
- Neonatal neurology
- Developmental pediatrics
- Motor control research
Background:
- Preterm infants face higher risks of motor abnormalities due to neural fragility.
- Current methods for assessing neonatal motor integrity lack reliability, hindering early intervention.
- Objective assessment of motor function is crucial for timely therapeutic strategies.
Purpose of the Study:
- To introduce a novel method for assessing neonatal motor performance using intraoral sucking pressures.
- To establish normative intraoral motor control patterns in term infants.
- To identify sucking control irregularities in preterm infants and correlate them with later motor development.
Main Methods:
- Recording and analyzing intraoral sucking pressures during nutritive feeding.
- Applying a novel development of tau theory to quantify sucking control.
- Comparing sucking patterns in term and preterm infants.
- Correlating sucking assessments with physiotherapy evaluations at six months.
Main Results:
- Normal intraoral motor control patterns were established for term infants.
- Preterm infants exhibited significant irregularities in sucking control.
- Irregular sucking patterns in preterm infants correlated with delayed motor development at six months.
Conclusions:
- Intraoral sucking pressure analysis offers an objective measure of neonatal motor control.
- This method can identify preterm infants at risk for motor delays.
- Incorporating sucking control assessment into neonatal neurological exams could enable earlier interventions for motor abnormalities.
Abstract:
As a consequence of the fragility of various neural structures, preterm infants born at a low gestation and/or birthweight are at an increased risk of developing motor abnormalities. The lack of a reliable means of assessing motor integrity prevents early therapeutic intervention. In this paper, we propose a new method of assessing neonatal motor performance, namely the recording and subsequent analysis of intraoral sucking pressures generated when feeding nutritively. By measuring the infant's control of sucking in terms of a new development of tau theory, normal patterns of intraoral motor control were established for term infants. Using this same measure, the present study revealed irregularities in sucking control of preterm infants. When these findings were compared to a physiotherapist's assessment six months later, the preterm infants who sucked irregularly were found to be delayed in their motor development. Perhaps a goal-directed behaviour such as sucking control that can be measured objectively at a very young age, could be included as part of the neurological assessment of the preterm infant. More accurate classification of a preterm infant's movement abnormalities would allow for early therapeutic interventions to be realised when the infant is still acquiring the most basic of motor functions.
