Nutritive sucking in high-risk neonates after perioral stimulation

Five high-risk neonates were selected from the population of newborns in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of the Medical College of Virginia Hospitals to investigate the effect of perioral stimulation on nutritive suckling ability. A polygraph and pressure transducer were used to record sucking activity over a four-minute interval for three successive feedings. During the first and third feedings, the infants received no stimulation. During the second feeding, infants received perioral stimulation whenever they stopped sucking for a two-second period. An analysis of variance showed a statistically significant effect from the stimulation sequence as well as a trend of decreasing sucking activity during the four-minute interval. The study indicated that perioral stimulation may be an effective method for increasing nutritive sucking ability of infants who are poor feeders.