PURPOSE: to check the nutritive sucking performance in preterm infants that underwent sensory-motororal stimulation. METHODS: a controlled clinical trial of intervention was performed in 20 preterm infants divided into experimental and control group. The infants received a speech therapist evaluation in two different times: at the beginning of the oral feeding (first speech therapist evaluation) and when they reached full oral feeding (second evaluation). Statistical data analyses used STATA 10 package and they were analyzed for treatment group differences with Fisher's exact Test and Student's unpaired t-test (p<0.05). RESULTS: infants in the experimental group, in the second evaluation, differed statistically in the pressure of strong sucking (p=0.003), presence of the three adaptive reflexes (p=0.001), coordination among sucking, swallowing and breathing (p=0.003), the total time for sucking (p=0.01) and of number of sucking/time (p<0.01). The total number of sucks showed a statistically significant difference (p<0.05) among the evaluations of the control group. No differences were observed among the groups as for sucking rhythm, and prescribed and ingested milk volume. CONCLUSION: in this study, sensory-motor-oral stimulation contributed for a better sucking performance, during bottle feeding, in preterm infants.
Infant Newborn; Premature; Feeding; Suction
