Breathing pattern of neonates during nonnutritive sucking

Area of Science:

• Neonatal physiology
• Respiratory control
• Infant feeding behavior

Background:

• Oral feeding in infants involves complex behaviors like sucking, swallowing, and laryngeal chemoreceptor stimulation, which alter breathing patterns.
• Nonnutritive sucking (NNS) preserves sucking behavior while minimizing swallowing and laryngeal stimulation, making it a useful model to isolate the effects of sucking itself.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the effects of nonnutritive sucking on the breathing patterns of term infants.
• To determine if the behavioral activity of sucking alone accounts for breathing pattern alterations observed during oral feeding.

Main Methods:

• Studied 19 term infants during nonnutritive sucking.
• Measured respiratory variables including inspiratory duration, expiratory duration, breathing frequency, and tidal volume.
• Compared NNS data to previously established control values and analyzed sucking phases versus pauses within NNS.

Main Results:

• Overall breathing pattern variables (inspiratory duration, expiratory duration, breathing frequency, tidal volume) were not significantly altered during the entire NNS period compared to controls.
• During the sucking phases of NNS, a significant reduction in expiratory duration (P < 0.05) and tidal volume (P < 0.05) was observed compared to the intervening pauses.
• These findings indicate that while overall breathing is maintained, specific phases of sucking do impact respiratory parameters.

Conclusions:

• The behavioral activity of sucking alone does not explain the breathing pattern alterations seen during nutritive oral feeding.
• Pressure changes associated with the sucking mechanism during nonnutritive sucking appear to alter expiratory duration and tidal volume in neonates.
• Infant respiratory control is sensitive to the mechanical forces generated during the sucking process.