Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 27, 2025
Author Spotlight: Implications of Non-Nutritive Sucking on Speech Emergence and Infant Development
Published on: April 19, 2024
Direct swallowing training and oral sensorimotor stimulation in preterm infants: a randomised controlled trial
Ju Sun Heo1,2, Ee-Kyung Kim3, Sae Yun Kim1,4
1Department of Paediatrics, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea (the Republic of).
Insights
Direct swallowing training combined with oral sensorimotor stimulation (DST+OSMS) significantly accelerates independent oral feeding in very preterm infants. DST alone did not show significant improvement, but DST+OSMS demonstrated earlier feeding ability gains.
Area of Science:
- Neonatal care
- Pediatric feeding disorders
- Developmental pediatrics
Background:
- Very preterm infants often experience challenges with oral feeding.
- Early feeding interventions are crucial for infant development and hospital discharge.
- Direct swallowing training (DST) and oral sensorimotor stimulation (OSMS) are potential interventions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess the impact of DST alone versus DST combined with OSMS on oral feeding ability in very preterm infants.
- To compare the effectiveness of these interventions against a control group.
Main Methods:
- A blinded, parallel-group, randomized controlled trial was conducted in a tertiary hospital.
- Participants included preterm infants (<32 weeks gestation) who were fully tube-fed.
- Interventions involved sham, DST, or DST+OSMS, delivered twice daily.
Main Results:
- The DST+OSMS group achieved independent oral feeding significantly faster than the control group (mean difference: 6.3 days).
- DST alone did not significantly reduce the time to independent oral feeding compared to the control.
- Infants in the DST+OSMS group showed earlier improvements in feeding volume intake.
Conclusions:
- Combined DST and OSMS effectively accelerates the attainment of independent oral feeding in very preterm infants.
- DST alone is less effective than the combined approach for improving oral feeding ability.
- The combination therapy shows promise for earlier and improved oral feeding outcomes in this population.
Objective:
To evaluate the effects of direct swallowing training (DST) alone and combined with oral sensorimotor stimulation (OSMS) on oral feeding ability in very preterm infants.
Design:
Blinded, parallel group, randomised controlled trial (1:1:1).
Setting:
Neonatal intensive care unit of a South Korean tertiary hospital.
Participants:
Preterm infants born at <32 weeks of gestation who achieved full tube feeding.
Interventions:
Two sessions per day were provided according to the randomly assigned groups (control: two times per day sham intervention; DST: DST and sham interventions, each once a day; DST+OSMS: DST and OSMS interventions, each once a day).
Primary Outcome:
Time from start to independent oral feeding (IOF).
Results:
Analyses were conducted in 186 participants based on modified intention-to-treat (63 control; 63 DST; 60 DST+OSMS). The mean time from start to IOF differed significantly between the control, DST and DST+OSMS groups (21.1, 17.2 and 14.8 days, respectively, p=0.02). Compared with non-intervention, DST+OSMS significantly shortened the time from start to IOF (effect size: -0.49; 95% CI: -0.86 to -0.14; p=0.02), whereas DST did not. The proportion of feeding volume taken during the initial 5 min, an index of infants' actual feeding ability when fatigue is minimal, increased earlier in the DST+OSMS than in the DST.
Conclusions:
In very preterm infants, DST+OSMS led to the accelerated attainment of IOF compared with non-intervention, whereas DST alone did not. The effect of DST+OSMS on oral feeding ability appeared earlier than that of DST alone.
Trial Registration Number:
ClinicalTrials.gov Registry (NCT02508571).
More Related Videos
07:11Assessment of the Efficacy of An Osteopathic Treatment in Infants with Biomechanical Impairments to Suckling
Published on: February 5, 2019
08:32Adapting Human Videofluoroscopic Swallow Study Methods to Detect and Characterize Dysphagia in Murine Disease Models
Published on: March 1, 2015